Jim Curtin refutes report of interim tag removal in Wednesday press conference

9/24 UPDATE: Jim Curtin directly addressed this report at his weekly press conference today, stating "I am still the interim manager. ...I'm still fighting to have the interim tag dropped." Seeing as multiple people have independently confirmed the report Jim Curtin will lose the interim tag and take over as full-time manager, this seems like it could be a case of where there's smoke there's fire. Perhaps the fine details are yet to be ironed out or the Union are waiting to go public with this news, whatever the reason, the news is not yet official and should be treated as such until then or until something changes.

The article as originally posted remains below.

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After a start to the season that saw the Union win just three games out of their first 16, the Union appeared hopelessly out of the playoff hunt. The Union fired then manager John Hackworth and replaced him with interim manager Jim Curtin, an assistant under Hackworth. Since then, the Union have won six of their next 13 MLS games, have made a late push back into the playoff chase, and came within inches of winning the U.S. Open Cup.

Now after an international coaching search, Nick Sakiewicz and the Union have once again made an in-house hire. Multiple sources have confirmed the Union have removed Jim Curtin's interim tag, and named him full-time manager of the Philadelphia Union.

This hire will certainly be controversial among Union fans as though Curtin is a former MLS player and thus certainly very familiar with the league, he was a bit of an unknown in managerial circles before the Union named him interim manager in place of Hackworth. Furthermore, the Union made a similar decision in 2012 when Hackworth improved upon a dismal start by his predecessor Piotr Nowak.

Curtin does have a different background and career arc than Hackworth, though, and that probably means more than the fact that before he was hired full-time he managed the Union on an interim basis.