Women’s basketball coaches have always enjoyed a low profile on the national media landscape.

We know where Pat Summitt and Geno Auriemma work, because they’re constantly on our TVs in March coaching in the NCAA Tournament. But really, what do you hear about those coaches the other 11 months of the year?

Stories about women’s basketball are mostly positive because the product is family friendly. Even then, it’s mostly localized coverage.

The only time something truly negative hits ESPN’s airwaves, it’s something involving sex (Pokey Chatman) or racial issues (Rutgers).

Women’s coaches are making more money now than ever before. Seven Big 12 coaches received new contracts during the offseason. For the first time, the league has not one but two millionaires – Baylor’s Kim Mulkey and Texas’ Gail Goestenkors.

Big money means financial security and high market visibility. But it also means fans, media and especially athletic directors are paying more attention. Are women’s coaches at high-profile programs ready for an increased level of scrutiny?

“Well, we better be,” said Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale, who is also the current president of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association. “There is more emphasis on winning now more than ever before.

“TV is also a piece of that,” she added. “When you have 10,000 people at games and you have millions viewing via a TV audience, it does become about winning. That’s just human nature. That’s our society, that’s how that works.”

Some coaches are getting big bucks for different reasons. Mulkey was paid as a reward for leading the Bears to the 2005 national championship and all the accouterments that go along with that.

Goestenkors is being paid to ignite the Texas program and lead the Longhorns back to the NCAA Tournament.

Bonnie Henrickson is 40-49 in three seasons at Kansas. The Jayhawks haven’t made the NCAAs since 2000.

Yet Henrickson got a dramatic raise and will receive $635,000 this season, because athletic director Lew Perkins said he wanted to “send the message that women’s basketball is important to us at Kansas.”

Mulkey said coaches better be thick-skinned in this profession, because “everybody knows more than the coach.”

Goestenkors is one of the most successful coaches in the profession. She was 396-99 record in 15 seasons at Duke.

But those fans still grumble that Goestenkors never won a title despite two appearances in the national championship game (1999 and 2006).

“I’m being paid to be successful,” Goestenkors said. “I’m not being paid to come in and be average.”

Perhaps in some respects, the increased scrutiny means the sport is making good strides. Granted, women’s coaches won’t get grilled like the football or men’s basketball coaches.

But they’re closer to being on equal footing than ever before.