Rock The Blue And Gold? Tim McDermott brings local ties and a famous brand slogan to Union

Many fans of Philadelphia sports will recognize the name Sean McDermott. The once-fired Philadelphia Eagles Defensive Coordinator was a hot-name among some local sports fans and media to replace Chip Kelly as Eagles head coach last month. Much lesser known, Sean's older brother Tim McDermott has spearheaded marketing for local teams and now the Philadelphia Union have hired him as their new Chief Business Officer.

McDermott's greatest achievement occurred during his time with the Capitals wherein he was involved with the launch of their famous Rock The Red branding campaign in the late 2000s, a hashtag the Caps still use on their official Twitter account to this day. Speaking in 2008 to On Frozen Blog, McDermott outlined the process used and the genesis of the three-word phrase that would soon become synonymous with the Capitals' identity.

Despite that great achievement, McDermott has been less successful during his time with the Sixers. No Sixers slogan in the past three years has had the same impact to the franchise as Rock The Red has had in Washington, and a couple of attempts he was involved with have been subject to jokes among Sixers fans. Most recently, the Sixers launched "This Starts Now" in early 2015 ahead of a season in which the Sixers started 0-18. And prior to that, the Sixers attempted "Young Run Fun Dunk" which never caught on with anybody.

Hopefully McDermott will be able to use his knowledge of Philadelphia through his and Sean's differing experiences along his experience with intelligent organizations such as the Capitals, Eagles, and Sixers in order to lead the Union to developing a more raucous and successful fan base. Given the low expectations the Union have given their fans over their first six seasons, it will not take a Rock The Red-style revolution to improve the previously bland Union branding.