Breaks of the Game : It was a bad break for U.S. soccer team member Paul Krumpe that gave the talented Lady Toros the assistant coach they needed.

Paul Krumpe’s bad break has turned into a very good one for Cal State Dominguez Hills soccer Coach Marine Cano.

Late in August, Cano was desperately searching for an assistant women’s soccer coach, and Krumpe, captain of the U.S. national team, was bored hanging out in his Redondo Beach townhouse waiting for a cast to be removed from his right leg, which he broke last spring while playing in Paraguay.

In the last month, the two former professional soccer players have teamed to guide the unbeaten Lady Toros to the No. 2 spot in the nation among Division II schools. And Krumpe, who had no previous coaching experience, says he’s considering a career change.

Although he holds an engineering degree from UCLA, he says, “I’m having so much fun coaching, I think I want to stick with it.”

A graduate of West Torrance High School, where he played on the Warriors’ 1980 Southern Section 4A championship soccer team, Krumpe, 26, came to be Cano’s assistant more by chance than by design.

In late August, he read a story in The Times about how Cano had lost both of his assistant coaches to Division I jobs.

“I won’t just hire anyone,” Cano said at the time. “I want a quality person.”

Krumpe figured Cano needed a good break.

“I called him,” said Krumpe. “I was available.”

More than a month into the season, Cano is convinced that Krumpe is the person he was looking for.

“He has a wealth of knowledge,” Cano said. “He’s an asset because he’s coming off the national team, and he knows the newest tactics available internationally. He gives us a new look.”

The pair have worked well together, players and administrators at Dominguez Hills agree. Said senior sweeper Laura Moses: “Paul is a great coach. He knows the game very well, and he sees the entire picture.”

Athletic Director Dan Guerrero has found Krumpe to be more than a pleasant surprise.

“Paul brought a level of expertise to the coaching staff that enhances the ability and skills of Marine Cano,” Guerrero said. “He has great interpersonal skills and communicates well with the athletes.”

Finding the right person for the job was frustrating to Cano, who knew that the Lady Toros had the potential to be among the best teams in the nation.

Cano coaches the men’s and women’s soccer teams simultaneously at Dominguez Hills. Because of scheduling conflicts, he cannot be with both teams all the time; sometimes his assistant coaches have to take over. In former English soccer professional John Gerrard, Cano has a men’s assistant he trusts and respects; he sought a similar person to help with the women.

“I have a close-knit group of girls,” Cano explained. “If they don’t like someone, I know we are going to have a rough time.”

Krumpe joined the team after practice had begun, but he jumped into the role immediately.

One of his first assignments was to coach the women’s team in a game against Cal State San Bernardino at Alta Vista Park in Redondo Beach on Sept. 9. It turned out to be a long day for Krumpe, who had not slept the night before because his wife, Kati, had gone into labor with their first child. Their son, Tyler, was born just hours before game time, giving Krumpe barely enough time for a goodby kiss at the hospital.

Last spring, Krumpe sought a position in the aerospace industry to tide him over while his leg healed. But he had difficulty finding one that would fit into a schedule that included physical therapy and surgery to correct a very rare form of stress fracture in the navicular bone, a boat-shaped structure in the lower leg. Krumpe compares his injury to the nagging foot problem that sidelined former UCLA basketball player Bill Walton for much of his professional career.

“My doctor figures there have only been about two dozen cases like mine,” he said.

Krumpe’s playing status is still in doubt. He has a tiny screw embedded in the injured leg, and he says his doctors are not sure whether it can ever be removed. If it can, that means more surgery.

Still, Krumpe says he expects to be back in time for a crucial U.S. match with Trinidad and Tobago on Nov. 19. The game is expected to decide which team qualifies for the final 1990 World Cup berth.

U.S. Coach Bob Gansler is gambling that Krumpe will return, although Krumpe can still be seen hobbling around Lady Toros practices in a cast.

“Without him, we’ll have to take (them) one at a time,” Gansler said of three World Cup qualifiers the U.S. must play this fall.

At lunch the other day in the campus cafeteria, Cano argued with Krumpe about his planned date of return to international action. Krumpe, raising his casted leg, insisted that he has plenty of time to prepare for a return.

Cano wasn’t so sure. He was thinking about the Division II playoffs, which might interfere with Krumpe’s comeback because they will be held about the same time the United States trains for the Trinidad game.

That discussion shows how important a role Krumpe is playing at Dominguez Hills this season. “He’s a thinker, an organizer,” said Cano. “He’s a motivator too.”

Krumpe has been good for the feisty Cano for a number of reasons.

“I’m a vocal guy,” Cano said. “He is toned down a bit, although he can be more vocal than me if he wants, sometimes. But that’s good for me, because now I can relax a little bit.”

Krumpe would have no problem making a career in coaching, according to UCLA Coach Sigi Schmid.

“As a coach, you have to make decisions that aren’t always understood immediately, or aren’t very popular at first with the players,” he said. “Paul has the character and the backbone to do that.”

At West Torrance, Krumpe was an all-Southern Section selection as a midfielder, but when he got to UCLA, Schmid thought he would be better in the backfield, the same area he has patrolled on the national team as a right fullback.

“We converted him because we thought he had the skills and instincts to score goals from the backfield,” Schmid said.

As a senior at UCLA, Krumpe was named the Bruins’ team captain. He finished his college career among the school’s top 10 in career assists and, despite his role as a defender, scored 12 goals.

He went on to play two seasons with the Chicago Sting of the Major Indoor Soccer League and was a member of the U.S. Olympic Team in 1988.

According to soccer experts, Krumpe is not the most gifted of athletes, although when he is playing he keeps himself in great condition. They add, however, that he displays so many intangible qualities on the field that it would be hard to pass him over.

“He has the ability to motivate people and make others play better,” Schmid said. “His return will raise the level of play on the national team.”

Gansler, the national team’s coach, saw the same qualities. He could have cut Krumpe after the injury but instead has assured the fullback that there is a place for him on the team if he can come back.

“I like his approach to the game,” Gansler said. “He has a very mature approach to the game and is a good influence on the team. He’s got his life in order, and it carries over to the way he plays.”

When Krumpe first arrived on the scene at Dominguez Hills, he hobbled onto the field on his crutches. He found it difficult to get into the action because he wanted to be out on the field demonstrating. But, as good breaks go, Krumpe eventually turned the crutches into a teaching aid.

“They helped me verbalize more,” he said.

Moses discovered that early.

“He really helps me read the game,” she said.

As for a career in coaching, Krumpe says he’ll take the breaks one at a time.