The secret is out. That is, if it were ever really a secret.

Laura Beeman can coach and everyone on the West Coast knows it. The Pac-12 was already well aware of her as an assistant at USC and as a longtime junior college head coach at Mt. San Antonio.

Now they’ve seen what she can do as a Division I head coach, six times face-to-face and all those Big West games in the past two seasons as Beeman has resurrected the University of Hawaii program.

Friday it’s more Pac-12 exposure, as the Rainbow Wahine take on Washington in the first round of the Women’s NIT.

And, if UH wins, it could play Oregon in the next round. The Wahine beat the Ducks last season.

This is also intriguing because — if you believe the scuttlebutt — a Hawaii-Oregon game at this point could be a de facto job interview for Beeman, 43. Paul Westhead, after five seasons of mostly losing, will be done in Eugene when his contract expires at the end of this month.

One of the big topics at the Big West tournament last week was Beeman, and how long UH can keep her away from more well-heeled suitors.

Beeman said Thursday she isn’t hearing any of it, literally. No one has contacted her, nor UH athletic director Ben Jay.

"There’s nothing to say about it because there’s been nothing," Beeman said Thursday. "It’s very flattering to hear about those kinds of comments being made. But I’m just working hard to excel and be the best at my trade. If it puts me in the spotlight, I’ll take it because it’ll benefit everybody."

By "everybody" she means her Rainbow Wahine team, a group she said she has no plans on leaving after the WNIT, which will conclude the second year of her initial three-year contract with Hawaii. Maybe someone will throw a huge offer her way that dwarfs the $130,000 a year salary she draws now at UH.

But that’s hypothetical. Reality is Friday’s game — and, at least for now, next year in Manoa.

"Honestly, right now I see myself back and taking this program to another level, the Big West championship and the NCAA tournament. I want to take this team to the Big Dance," Beeman said. "UH has great potential. We ARE the bigger and the better. When we win some postseason games, that’s how we will be seen. That’s my goal — not for me, for these kids and this program."

Lots of coaches say stuff like that and are gone within a week. But Beeman gets sincerity points: Last year, when there was talk about a raise and extension for her, she was more concerned with better pay for her assistants.

UH women’s basketball decayed and stagnated after Vince Goo worked wonders in the 1990s but then retired.

In her first season, Beeman inspired a hodgepodge group to play tough defense and synergize on offense as if they’d been teammates all their lives.

This year, the Wahine battled gamely to a second-consecutive 17-win season (so far) despite star forward Kamilah Jackson’s absence down the stretch due to injury.

When and if Laura Beeman does leave it will be a tough loss for Hawaii. She wants to be back to finish the job here. But even if she receives an offer she can’t refuse and UH can’t come close to matching, she will have left the Wahine basketball program in much better condition than it was when she arrived.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. Read his blog at staradvertiser.com/quickreads.