UH trusts Beeman to cure what ails Wahine hoops

For nearly a half-century, people in the San Bernardino, Calif., area have looked to their neighborhood Beeman Pharmacies for the cures to what has ailed them.

Now, the University of Hawaii is calling upon Laura Beeman, one of the few Beemans not in the family business, to supply a remedy for the school’s women’s basketball program.

“She could have been anything she wanted to be, but her heart has always been in sports,” said her brother Robert, who along with their father, uncle, a cousin and a niece are licensed pharmacists. “Whatever she puts her mind to, she can do. She’s a winner, you’ll see.”

The 43-year-old ex-USC associate head coach’s latest and most challenging task as announced Friday is turning around the fortunes of a once-proud UH program that has fallen on hard times and is having trouble getting back up.

The Rainbow Wahine have gone five years without a winning season. They haven’t won a quarterfinal round game in a conference tournament since 2003. Their games average fewer than 800 spectators and the program costs upwards of $750,000 more to operate annually than it brings in.

It didn’t used to be this way back when Vince Goo (1987-88 through 2003-04) was contending for conference championships in the Big West and Western Athletic Conference.

But as UH prepares to return to the Big West on July 1, there is an urgency to regaining competitiveness and relevance.

Enter the 5-foot-4 former Cal State San Bernardino point guard whom colleagues and family describe as a “grinder” and a tireless, painstakingly detailed coach. The one they called the “Beemanator” was known as “that opponent you hated to play,” said Mount San Antonio Community College coach Brian Crichlow. “You know, the pesky defender that was fundamentally sound and always in your face applying pressure and when she had the ball, always knew where to pass it. Well, that’s her. That’s the way she coaches and the way her teams play.”

In 15 seasons as head coach at Mt. SAC, Beeman’s teams went 390-110 and won four California Community College State Championships. And, she says, sent 96 percent of the players on to four-year schools.

“The first time I saw one of her teams play I was impressed,” said Michael Cooper, a former NBA player. “I liked the way her teams played and how she carried herself.” He quickly hired her as an assistant with the WNBA Los Angeles Sparks and then, two years ago, took her with him to USC.

When Beeman told USC of her intent to take the Hawaii job this week, Cooper said he understood. But not before the Trojans made a counteroffer, closing the gap on the $130,000-$140,000 she is expected to make annually on a three-year contract at UH. “But it was never about the money for me,” Beeman maintained. “This is (about) my own head coaching gig. This is about job security because I’m in control of my own destiny.”

And, of course, UH’s. Where, after too many down years, she is being counted upon to provide the cure.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.