Long Beach Poly has hired a new baseball coach, according to multiple sources, with the hire expected to be announced to players and parents this evening. The Jackrabbits new coach will be Soloman Williams, a deeply connected Long Beach native with a long baseball history in the city.
Williams played on the 2008 Long Beach PONY World Series champion team and was an assistant coach at Wilson for four years before becoming head coach at Paramount and Westminster–he’s also the co-founder of the well-known TB SoCal Quakes travel program that operates alongside the PONY rec program at Whaley Park.
“The first emotion for me is just complete excitement,” said Williams. “I’ve always dreamed of taking over a program like this, in Long Beach and in the Moore League. I’m just trying to get to work and think about all the things we need to do to build this program–on the field but also with culture.”
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Williams played at Long Beach Little League and Long Beach PONY then at Wilson High. He signed with HBCU Arkansas Pine Bluff out of high school, then played a year at Golden West Junior College before signing with Cal State Bakersfield. His family has deep athletic roots in Long Beach–his sister, Sinclair Lawhorn, played softball at Wilson and Long Beach State, and his brother Karsen Lawhorn is a former Long Beach Century Club honoree as Special Olympics Southern California’s male athlete of the year.
Williams said that he was aware he wanted to be a coach at a young age.
“I knew from second grade that I wanted to be a teacher, and I knew since middle school I wanted to be a coach,” he said. “I coached my brother and sister’s teams when I was 14, 15, 16 years old and coached through Long Beach Parks and Rec while I was in high school.”
Williams has been an on-campus teacher/coach at Paramount and Westminster until his teaching position was eliminated after last year due to declining enrollment, a difficult moment that also led him back to his hometown.
Williams was selected by the Poly administration as well as an interview panel that included Jackrabbits legend Chris Gwynn; the Poly campus field is named after the Gwynn Family including Chris, MLB Hall of Famer Tony, and Charles Jr. He also had a number of community members behind him including one of his lifelong best friends, Thomas Walker. A Poly alum, Walker is the recently hired director of recruiting for the Long Beach State Dirtbags as well as a fellow 2008 PONY World Champion.
“I’m incredibly proud and excited,” said Walker. “I’m happy for my best friend to be leading this amazing program, but even happier for the program to have someone who is so knowledgeable, hard-working, and understanding of what it takes to run a program and win. I am confident the Jackrabbits got the right guy, and I look forward to following and supporting coach Williams and the Poly baseball program.”
Walker’s older brother, Glenn, is a fellow Poly alum as well as the SoCal Area Scout for the New York Mets–he also reached out in support of Williams.
“I’m relieved and also excited for that group of players,” said Glenn. “I spent some time around them last year and they’re hungry. Soloman is a relatable guy, he’s from Long Beach, he’s going to bring some focus and discipline and consistency. They can trust him as a person but also to develop them and get them closer to their goals.”
Williams’ former coach at the JC level, Golden West’s Andrew Ramos, is also a Poly alum who reached out to voice his excitement at the hire.
“He cares about kids and people and is guided by a very strong moral compass,” said Ramos. “He’s going to give the kids everything he has. When I got named head coach he was my first call to be my hitting coach. That’s my level of trust in him as a coach.”
Williams said that he’s optimistic about the program’s short term prospects. Despite the much-publicized tumult of the last two seasons, the Jackrabbits have won three of the last five Moore League titles under former coach Brent Lavoie. That’s an unprecedented run in program history in the Moore League, and the Jackrabbits return a host of young talent.
“I don’t think it’s a rebuild talent-wise, there’s plenty of talent,” said Williams. “I think it’s building the program and coming in and being consistent.”
It’s been two seasons of turmoil for the Poly program, which had an interim coach for much of 2022 while Lavoie was suspended; he was ultimately cleared but then let go at the end of that season. They also had a head coach for just one year in 2023 as Martin Rodriguez was let go at the end of the most recent season, in addition to an LBUSD investigation into a slap-boxing incident in the locker room.
There are challenges remaining for Williams and his staff–including the impending closure of the campus field during Poly’s $400 million campus renovation. But he said he’s excited to get to work putting things together and building towards a long future at the school.
“The biggest thing is going to be consistency, showing that I’m a Long Beach guy with a history in the sport, and I’m going to be the same guy every single day,” he said. “I don’t get too up or too down–showing them that I have a clear plan, from Summer to Fall to Winter to the season. Not just baseball but a holistic plan building athletes and young men and students. It’s not going to be easy, it won’t be perfect right away, but consistency is our strength in Long Beach–look at Andy Hall, look at Spud O’Neill. I’m not comparing myself but that’s what Poly needs, and that’s why they hired a young Long Beach guy with the history that I have–and I’m here to stay.”
