Familiar face returns to Luther Williams Field to lead Macon Bacon next season

Kevin Soine is returning to Middle Georgia this upcoming May as head coach for the Macon Bacon.

Soine helped lead the Bacon to a 2020 Southern Summer Ball Series Championship as an assistant coach during a COVID-19 shortened season. In 2020, Macon Bacon operated at about 40% capacity.

“To be at Luther Williams [Field] with 3,000-plus fans there — I look forward to that all the time,” Soine said.

Soine has been involved with baseball for most of his life. He grew up playing in Minnesota and eventually went to play for Century College in White Bear Lake, Minnesota before transferring to Grandview University in Des Moines, Iowa.

After finishing undergraduate school, Soine worked as a digital marketer before realizing he wanted a different career path.

Soine then started graduate school at the University of Dubuque in Iowa where he earned his master’s in business while helping coach for the university.

During his time in graduate school, Soine realized he wanted to make coaching his career. Soine lived with football coaches and worked under head coach Paul Wyczawski.

“I just had a lot of really good coaches around me from the start, which was lucky. That kind of made me want to do it,” Soine said.

After earning his master’s, Soine began his Coastal Plain League (CPL) career as a hitting coach for the Martinsville Mustangs in 2017. He worked for head coach Danny Higginbotham, who served as Macon Bacon’s head coach the following year during the 2018 inaugural season.

“When I was at the University of Dubuque, it’s just D-III baseball. Where I played, there’s really no crowds, so that was really my first experience of being in a different, more professional-like environment,” Soine said.

Soine was the head coach for the Mustangs during the summer of 2018, and he served as head coach for the Holly Springs Salamanders in the 2019 and 2021 seasons.

“Since I started, I’ve just created so many more connections with coaches, especially on the east coast, but really all across the country too. It’s allowed me to form new relationships, to meet different people and be involved with kind of the best of the best, honestly,” Soine said about his CPL coaching experience.

Soine said he is coming back to Macon after forming a strong connection with Macon Bacon President Brandon Raphael.

“Luther Williams gets rocking most nights. People come out to watch the Bacon. It’s becoming a national brand at this point, and it’s only going to keep getting better,” Soine said.

Soine is working on a Bacon roster that can provide both talent and fan interaction this summer.

“I think that it creates more of a community feel rather than this divide between people coming to the games and the players on the field. I would like to break down that barrier a little bit if we can,” Soine said.

In the summer, Soine plans to have Bacon players signing autographs and having more conversations with the fans.

“Come out to watch the Bacon if you like a good show and like to see good baseball,” Soine said.

For all those wondering how he prefers his bacon, Soine added, “If I’m going to a Macon Bacon game, I’m definitely getting crispy bacon in one way or another.”

Faith Montgomery is a Mercer University student working with the Macon Telegraph this semester.

This story was originally published November 17, 2021 at 5:00 AM.