Hearts add key leadership role with the appointment of Ray Saari as Sporting Director.
PORTLAND, Maine — Portland Hearts of Pine announced today that Ray Saari has been named the club’s Sporting Director, strengthening Hearts’ soccer operations as the club continues to invest in building a winning culture.
Saari will work closely with Hearts leadership and Head Coach Bobby Murphy to oversee player identification and recruitment; helping lead recruitment, roster construction and long-term sporting strategy. The Sporting Director role will serve to align sporting decisions with Hearts’ ambition of creating one of the best run and most competitive organizations in the USL.
“Creating this position is a huge step forward for our club,” said Club Founder Gabe Hoffman-Johnson. “We’re committed to building a best in class organization defined by success both on and off the pitch. Adding Ray as Sporting Director will allow us to be more deliberate in how we identify players, construct our roster, and support our coaching staff. He brings experience across recruitment, player development, and roster planning, and adding his knowledge of the USL ecosystem and player pool will strengthen our entire sporting operation.”
Saari joins Hearts from USL Championship side El Paso Locomotive FC. Saari first joined El Paso’s technical staff in 2023 as the club’s first Individual Development Plan Coach before becoming an Assistant Coach. Then named Technical Director in November of 2024, Saari oversaw a significant rebuild of El Paso’s first-team roster.
Alongside Head Coach Wilmer Cabrera, Saari led the club’s player identification, recruitment, and roster planning. Under his leadership, Locomotive went from a last-place finish in the Western Conference in 2024 to fourth place in 2025, returning to the USL Championship Playoffs. Upon his move to Maine, El Paso currently sits at the top of the USL Championship Western Conference.
“Creating a winning culture is about the standards you set every day,” Saari said. “It’s about bringing in players and staff who are competitive, who hold themselves and each other accountable and who understand that success is built through the work you put in consistently. You want to create an environment where everyone is pushing in the same direction and where winning becomes a result of the habits and expectations you establish.”
“What stood out to me about Hearts was how intentional the club has been about what it is building,” said Saari. “There is a real commitment from ownership to doing things the right way and creating something that can be successful over the long term. You can see that in the culture of the organization and in Bobby’s approach to coaching. He cares about developing players and helping them improve on the field, but he also puts a tremendous amount of value on character and who those players are as people. That alignment was really important to me.”
While Head Coach Bobby Murphy has served as both Head Coach and Sporting Director to this point, the addition of Saari as a dedicated Sporting Director creates a clearer sporting structure for the club. Ray will lead the Hearts’ long-term sporting strategy, including roster construction, recruitment, player development and long-term club building, while Bobby will remain focused on sporting performance, including coaching, tactics, training and matchday execution.
“Adding a person of Ray’s caliber is the next evolution for the club and demonstrates our growth. He will be a great addition,” said Murphy.
Saari added, “There is already a strong foundation here. My job is to help build on that by creating consistent processes around how we identify and evaluate players, how we construct the roster and ultimately how we put the coaching staff and players in the best possible position to succeed.”
“I believe that this club can win,” Saari continued. “When people think about the standard, when people think about what is the best example of a properly run club in the USL, I want it to be Portland Hearts of Pine. I want to reward supporters for what they put into this club”
For Hoffman-Johnson, Saari’s approach to the sporting side of the club was matched by an understanding of the culture Hearts have worked to establish since the organization’s founding.
“Culture has never been something separate from soccer for us. It is part of how we believe you build a great club,” said Hoffman-Johnson. “Ray understood that immediately. He believes the players you bring into the building matter not only because of what they can do on the field, but because of who they are, how they represent the club and what they add to the group. As we continue to grow and add a women’s team, having someone who shares that philosophy will be important in making sure the identity of Hearts remains consistent across the sporting side of the club.”
Before moving into sporting leadership, Saari played professionally for 8 seasons across the U.S. soccer landscape, playing for multiple clubs across the USL Championship. Saari’s understanding of the league as a player has proven crucial in his success in soccer leadership.
“We have been intentional about building Hearts step by step,” Hoffman-Johnson said. “Adding this role gives our coaching staff additional support and gives the club greater capacity to plan not just for the next match or the next signing, but to build the kind of sporting organization we want Hearts to become.”