Beeman lands first head coaching job


USC women’s basketball associate head coach Laura Beeman has left the program to become head coach at the University of Hawai’i.

Beeman was at USC for two years under head coach Michael Cooper. She also worked with Cooper when he was the head coach of the Los Angeles Sparks for the 2008-2009 WNBA season.

“It’s not often that you have a dream, and that dream comes true,” Beeman said. “To have my first Division I head coaching job at the University of Hawai’i is very, very special.”

Moving on up · USC women’s basketball associate head coach Laura Beeman has been named the head coach at the University of Hawai’i. - Chris Pham | Daily Trojan

Before joining Cooper in Los Angeles, Beeman was head coach at Mt. San Antonio College for 15 seasons.

“Hawai’i definitely has a great, great coach that is going to turn that program around instantly,” Cooper said. “It is not going to take her years to do it. She is going to do it immediately.”

In her two years at USC, Beeman helped the Women of Troy achieve a combined 42 wins and reach the Women’s National Invitation Tournament Championship game in 2011.

The Women of Troy finished third in the Pac-12 conference this year with an 18-win season and a six-game win streak to finish the regular season. They were upset in the first round of the conference tournament by the Washington State Cougars and did not make the cut for the WNIT this year.

Beeman joins two other former USC assistants as head coaches at the University of Hawai’i, including Norm Chow, football, and Gib Arnold, men’s basketball.