Hearts Of Pine Name Bobby Murphy As Sporting Director/Manager
“It’s the relationships that keep bringing me back to this profession. It’s what I love to do.”
On the eve of the press conference that will officially announce Bobby Murphy as the new manager of Portland Hearts of Pine, The Blazing Musket was granted some time to get to know the man that will be roaming the touchline at Fitzpatrick Stadium in 2025.
Let’s get to know Bobby Murphy.
TBM: What attracted you to Portland Hearts of Pine, and back into USL League One soccer?
BM: I’ve reached an age where my career for so long was guided by my ambition and my ambition of how high I could climb and what that looked like. Now I’ve reached an age where having that MLS Next Pro experience was a really great ah-ha moment that I can do good things and be happy and find that intersection of what’s meaningful to me and still coach.
In meeting with ownership and Gabe and hearing his vision for how he wants this club to be a part of the larger community here in Portland, I think at my age, having been around the block to build something from the ground up, to hopefully bring joy to a fan base and a community that seems eager and hungry to have a franchise that represents them is probably one of the biggest gifts and joy that somebody can do.
It has very little to do with level or USL or MLS, but it has more to do with a project that can use my skills and the game to become part of a fabric of a community which I think is very exciting and meaningful to me.
TBM: Congratulations on a deep run in the MLS Next Pro playoffs, and making an appearance in the Western Conference Final with City2. Unfortunately, things didn’t quite go your way, but you must be happy with a deep run into the playoffs.
BM: Yeah, they were a great group of young men. As proud as I was of what they accomplished on the field, to watch them grow up and watch them go from boys to men right before your eyes. Having played a part in that was really gratifying and exciting. Equally having helped them on with their careers. I think we had five called up to sign first-team deals or Homegrown deals out of that group. I’m proud of the work we did and I stand by that one hundred percent.
TBM: Over your career, you’ve spent some time in the North East between playing college soccer, USL pro teams, and some getting started coaching in Maine. Coming back to Maine, what are you looking forward to seeing or experiencing again?
BM: I think what’s exciting is being in this vibrant city. I’ve been here for a few days and you can tell how alive it is. Everybody keeps telling me about the food and I haven’t had a bad meal yet.
I spent ten years here in New England. My kids were all born here. It was a big part of my life. I got a chance to finish school, get my start in coaching. This part of the world is special to me. So to come back and get a chance to see how much it’s grown and somehow stayed the same is pretty exciting.
TBM: For those that may not be familiar with your time over at St. Louis. When a Bobby Murphy soccer team takes the pitch. What are the fans going to see?
BM: They’re going to play hard. Listen…I tell my guys, and I’ll tell my team when they get here. When you’re walking out on that field, find that guy that’s wearing one of your jerseys. Find that guy. You have a responsibility to play as hard and train as hard every day as if that guy had one chance to play for the club.
So if that guy drinking his beer, who comes and spends his hard-earned money, got one chance to step on the field and play. How hard would he play? That’s your responsibility. I think that’s our baseline. That’s certainly non-negotiable.
Beyond that, we’re going to be on the front foot. We’re going to try and get in people’s faces. The conditions up here with the field being a little bit narrow, some potential for some wind and cold, we want to be on the front foot. We want to press, get in people’s faces, and make it hard. We want to make it a really awful place for people to come and play where nobody wants to come up here.
I believe in having the ball, but I believe in having a purpose with the ball. Not just keeping it for keeping it sake. We want to break lines and be as exciting as we can.
TBM: From one of your previous interviews you made a statement that fans are a part of the player’s development. I thought that was a great quote. Could you please elaborate a little on how fans contribute to a player’s development?
BM: In the context of that quote it was St Louis. We were fortunate that we had really good support for the second team. I think we averaged close to five thousand a game. We broke the league record. I think we hold the top four attendance records for the league, over ten thousand three times.
When you’re sixteen or seventeen years old and you think of playing professional soccer, that’s one thing. When you have to step out onto the field that pay good money to see you play, that’s added pressure. Players need to learn how to cope with that pressure. I think in a lot of environments the fan support may not be as evident or as large. Players don’t learn to cope with that. So in that context what that means is all these people showing up are actually helping all those guys that are stepping onto the field for the first time take to it like it’s no big deal, because they’ve been there before.
I think even here, we’ll have young players here playing in front of a packed house every day. They’ll learn what it means to be a professional, because you’ve got a responsibility to the people who paid to come watch you play. You don’t get off the hook, you don’t get a pass if you don’t feel like running around that day. These people came, you have a responsibility, that’s part of being a pro. You owe that to people. That was the context to that, but I think it applies to hear as well.
TBM: From what I’ve read and watched you’re big on trying new things, living in the moment, working with young people, helping them improve both personally and professionally. Can you recall and share with me one of your most rewarding coaching moments?
BM: This past year we had MyKhi Joyner. Who was 17. If you had said two years ago that MyKhi was where he was at we, would have made good money on him. He was a kid that was um…TikTok brains for a lack of a better word. <laughter>
He couldn’t concentrate. He was living away from home with a host family. He was doing teenage things. Making mistakes. He was screwing up training. I didn’t know what else to do with him, so I made him come into my office every morning and we played the card game concentration because he’s highly competitive. You have to turn over all the cards and try to find pairs. I beat his ass for about three weeks. Then he started seeing the value in it. Next thing you know he’s not getting into trouble. Next thing you know he’s not messing up training. All of a sudden goals started going in. We got him to graduate high school. Then all of a sudden he signed a Homegrown deal. Now he’s with the U-19 National Team. Winning games is fun, but this kid’s life has hopefully been changed from interactions with me and my staff.
Just using soccer as a means of opportunity for people. Like Mikey Lopez who just finished up at Birmingham Legion. He came to me when he was 13 years old. He lived at the school I was working at so, I believe, he could be the first person in his family to go to college. To then turn pro, after going to UNC and I believe he was a Generation Adidas kid, and went to New York City for a while. Those are the things that matter the most to me. Winning is fun and all, but it’s temporary. It’s the relationships that keep bringing me back to this profession. It’s what I love to do.
TBM: Yeah, it’s the people part of the game that’s so important….
BM: Yeah, and I think that’s getting lost a little bit with data and analytics. My job at the end of the day is to galvanize twenty human beings and get them on the same page and all pulling the rope in the same direction. While acknowledging they all have their own agendas.
TBM: I’m a part of the Dirigo Union, which is an independent supporters group for Hearts of Pine.
BM: Let’s Go!
TBM: Yeah! So my last question is we’ve been kicking around the idea of putting together a Dirigo Union cookbook in an effort to tighten the cultural bonds of the community. Everybody comes from a different part of the country or a different part of the World. Everybody shares a single recipe, all stacking together to curate a culinary covenant from the Dirigo Union. If the Dirigo Union were to create such a book, what recipe would you enter if requested?
BM: Keeping with my roots, I’d probably go with a Green Chile Stew. I do make a pretty mean drunken noodle, but why make it for 50 bucks when you can pay somebody to make it professionally for around 15? I’m going with the Green Chile Stew.
TBM: That’s all the questions I have today, is there anything you’d like to get out to the supporters and The Blazing Musket readers?
BM: Our goal is one, we want this to be a big success on the field, but two to be a really big part of this community. I think this feels to me, and I think you can probably attest to this more, that this market is ready for this team and not this team is being thrust into this market.
TBM: Yes, absolutely.
BM: That’s a huge responsibility, but a great challenge and an honor to be a stewart of this club for how every long they’ll have me, and to bring a smile to your face and make everybody proud.