Beeman proves her aloha for Hawaii

When I saw Laura Beeman today, I said, “You don’t want to go to Utah, there ain’t no beaches.” She immediately responded, “I’m staying.”

I had a gut feeling the first time I met the UH women’s basketball coach that she is the kind of person motivated more by relationships and a sense of loyalty than money. When people kept fretting about her leaving UH for greener pastures, my response would be, “Not everyone is greedy, and there’s much more to life than money.”

Keep in mind this is a women who stayed at a JC, Mt. San Antonio College, for 15 years. I’m sure she had other opportunities to “move up” before she left to be a USC assistant.

But of course, every man and woman has his or her price and there may come a time when USC, Cal or maybe even Stanford comes calling and it will be much harder for her to say no than it was to Utah.

Hopefully if and when that time comes, her first assistant will have learned enough from her to keep the good times going for UH women’s basketball.

For now, it’s time to repay Beeman’s proof of aloha and loyalty to Hawaii with some investment in her program via season tickets and corporate sponsorships.