Ray Saari has been the Portland Hearts of Pine’s sporting director for one month now. During that time, the Hearts have gone 2-2-1 (W-L-D), which is generally representative of Portland’s disappointing season. Saari arrived here after constructing a first-place team with El Paso Locomotive FC, which plays in the higher-division USL Championship.
Now in Portland, Saari is charged with getting the men’s team back on track and building a brand-new women’s team, which is set to play in the USL W League starting in May. The Hearts’ Beat spoke to Saari about his experiences so far after coming to Maine and what he sees for the club’s future.
The Hearts’ Beat: You have been here a month. What are your thoughts so far?
Ray Saari: I’ve very much enjoyed the month here so far. The city is absolutely beautiful. It’s been a great experience so far with my wife and the club. I see so many good things about what we do, how we operate. The results have been inconsistent. We’ve had some good wins, but also some bad losses, which is disappointing in a lot of ways. But definitely, I have enjoyed my time with the staff and being able to evaluate the group. It’s a group of good guys.
The Hearts’ Beat: What’s the biggest surprise from moving to Maine?
Ray Saari: I don’t know if it was a surprise but just the beauty of the city and just being in the environment, definitely was something I was expecting, but the passion behind that from everybody in the club, from members within ticketing or ownership, really everyone, it’s been incredible. I wouldn’t say it’s a surprise, but it’s definitely been something that I’ve really enjoyed about my time here so far, just seeing the passion that everybody has for the club.
The Hearts’ Beat: Any surprises from things you weren’t expecting with the club?
Ray Saari: You know, one thing in coming here, I knew that we had a good staff, but honestly just the amount of resources that we have at the club when it comes to so many people wanting to be involved with it, whether it’s our use of interns from colleges around the area, and things of that nature, I’ve been very happy to see how much these people want to be involved with our club, and how well they do in our environment and how much they help us.
The Hearts’ Beat: This year, you’re going to be putting together a men’s and a women’s team.
Ray Saari: Mm-hmm.
The Hearts’ Beat: You haven’t had to do that before, correct? In terms of building two whole teams at the same time?
Ray Saari: Yeah, I haven’t had to do two new teams at the same time. I’ve played summer league football and have coached summer league football, so I know a little bit about the nuances of doing so.
But I’ve never had to do two at the same time before. But again, I think the amount of people that want to be involved in the club, both on the player side and also personnel-wise and staffing, it’s been really refreshing for me to see that. I’m confident that we can put a good product out there for everybody to enjoy on both teams.
Editor’s note: Saari was talking about soccer when he said football, which is the international term for the sport.
The Hearts’ Beat: Are you already looking into players at this point?
Ray Saari: We’re in an evaluation period of our group but also an identification period of what else is out there free agent-wise who could be options for us. That started pretty soon after I got here, so we feel good with where we’re at and we’re making really good strides in that department.
The Hearts’ Beat: How does that work? Can you talk to an agent now about a player you might be interested in signing?
Ray Saari: Certainly, that’s one of the reasons why players have agents. You can’t speak with players right now but you can talk to their agents.
The Hearts’ Beat: So you can find out if they would be open to coming to Portland?
Ray Saari: Yeah, exactly. Obviously, my staff, myself, our analysts, we are all watching video, we’re watching games, and there’s so many things that go on, people talking here and there, like, “Hey, what do you think about this guy? Is this guy good in the locker room?” A lot of conversations like that are happening right now.
The Hearts’ Beat: What’s the No. 1 thing this men’s team needs to do better?
Ray Saari: I would say that poor results never come from one issue or one thing. It’s usually a variety of different variables that lead to good and bad results, right? I can’t say I could choose a No. 1 overarching theme. There’s definitely things that we need to adjust and evaluate and make changes to but I can’t say that there’s this one glaring thing that explains why results have been inconsistent. There’s always such a huge variable to this.
The Hearts’ Beat: What’s the status of coach Bobby Murphy coming back?
Ray Saari: We’re very pleased with Bobby. Bobby’s a guy who’s proven successful in the league, and not just in our league, but as a coach in the U.S. soccer landscape in general, right? There’s not many coaches you see in our league that have a CV like his, so we are very excited, very happy with him. Everybody’s disappointed with this year, but I definitely think that there’s a lot of positives to take out of some of the things that I’ve seen as well.
The Hearts’ Beat: So, you would expect him to be back?
Ray Saari: Yeah, I would.