In the Big West Conference you never hear the term “beginner’s luck” when it comes to awarding coach of the year honors in men’s basketball.

History tells us only three of the 40 coaches — Fresno State’s Boyd Grant (1977-78), San Jose State’s Bill Berry (1979-80) and UC Santa Barbara’s Bob Williams (1998-99) — who have won or shared the award have done so in their Big West debut, the conference said.

Just one of them, Berry, managed it in the first season as a head coach at any level of college ball.

So the possibilities that exist for the University of Hawaii’s Eran Ganot heading into the final third of the regular season are both remarkable and potentially historic.

A lot can happen in the final six regular-season games, of course, but it is noteworthy where Ganot has the Rainbow Warriors positioned. The ‘Bows are 9-1 in conference (20-3 overall) and alone in first place heading to Cal State Northridge (Thursday) and UC Irvine (Saturday).

Around the Super Tuesday presidential primaries, Big West coaches will vote for the conference’s annual awards, and if balloting were held today you get the feeling that two of the most prestigious prizes, coach of the year and player of the year, would correctly be bound for the UH trophy case.

The closest UH has come to something like that was 1996-97, when Riley Wallace and Anthony Carter won divisional awards in the 16-team WAC.

This year Roderick Bobbitt as the league’s top player was hardly a longshot, even if some media members didn’t see fit to vote him to the preseason all-league team.

With Bobbitt, at least, there was a body of work from last year when he was named the conference’s defensive player of the year.

Ganot, however, was a huge question mark, somebody hired six months before the season and who had barely one year as an associate head coach.

Ganot inherited a well-stocked cupboard but one also stuffed with strong individual personalities to test a rookie. Combined with the cloud of the NCAA infractions process, small wonder UH was picked third by fellow coaches.

“We knew the talent level on Hawaii’s team from having played them in the conference (tournament) championship game last year, but I didn’t know the transition would go as well as it has for Eran,” said UC Irvine’s Russell Turner. “I mean, that is a really hard gig for your first (head) coaching job. But he’s done a terrific job with it.”

It is a testimony shared by other peers, no small matter in a profession where newcomers are often expected to pay their dues before success is acknowledged, much less rewarded.

In 2006, Boise State rookie football coach Chris Petersen went 13-0 (8-0 in conference) but finished second to June Jones in WAC coach of the year balloting, reportedly because some veteran coaches believed Petersen inherited a ready-made winner and Jones turned around a 5-7 team.

To Jones’ credit, he shipped the plaque to Boise.

If the ’Bows complete their championship run, Ganot will have his.