Net Loss in U.S. Is Europe’s Gain : Volleyball: Big money overseas and on the beach is luring top players and budding stars away from the national team.

A new day has dawned for the once-powerful U.S. men’s volleyball program, complete with a 10-game losing streak, a 10-25 record and the realistic possibility that the two-time defending Olympic champions won’t even make it out of pool play at the World Championships in October.

The most startling aspect is that the record should not even be the biggest concern--that was expected after the core of the world’s pre-eminent team, notably Karch Kiraly and Steve Timmons, retired within the last year. The attention-getter here is that the Canadians are a problem, the Cubans are a problem . . . and volleyball in America has a problem.

The value of green has started to outweigh the lure of gold. Six-figure annual incomes are available on the beach, not to mention a lifestyle in which two-man teams can set their practice schedule, travel occasionally on three-day weekends for tournaments and play the game in the surroundings in which most players grew up. The U.S. national team is competing with free enterprise for the best players in the land.

And then there’s Europe to deal with, primarily Italy.

Timmons and Kiraly, who each turned down several offers over the years, finally signed for about $500,000 each by a club team in Ravenna to play during the October-to-May season. The team’s parent company, Gruppa Ferruzzi, had experience in winning over American stars. It got Danny Ferry and Brian Shaw to sign with its basketball subsidiary, Il Messaggero.

Timmons and Kiraly, who are planning to be next-door neighbors in the northern city just inland from the Adriatic Sea on Italy’s east coast, will have company. Bob Ctvrtlik, Dave Saunders, Jeff Stork and Dusty Dvorak, all former Olympians, have also signed to play for Italian teams. And Doug Beal, U.S. coach in the 1984 Olympics and current national team director for the U.S. Volleyball Assn., has accepted a coaching position in the same league.

“I can remember about 10 different times when (Beal) said something about the Italian leagues and how guys betrayed the U.S. by going over there,” Timmons said. “Maybe it’s a message to the USVBA.”

Others say that Beal, who could not be reached, simply wanted to get back into coaching, and this presented the best opportunity.

It’s one thing for the Italian influence to peck away at the past, taking players who have already made significant contributions to volleyball in America. But now big money is being dangled in the faces of the future of the U.S. team. Adam Johnson was with the program about a year when he told Coach Bill Neville that he had a problem--stay in America and strive for the Olympics or take a $100,000-plus offer in Italy.

“Adam, it doesn’t sound like you’ve got a problem,” Neville said. “It sounds like I’ve got a problem.”

That he does. Johnson took the offer, and Neville is left to wonder who might be next.

That problem, of course, is how to make it worthwhile for players to stay. At the peak of volleyball’s popularity in this country, Timmons and Kiraly made about $80,000 a year each, and that included appearances. It’s only a small percentage of their potential earnings elsewhere.

A young player such as Johnson can expect about $12,000 of support from the program for a year-round commitment.

“It’s very discouraging,” Neville said. “But I’m a competitor, too. As coach of this team, I’m also exploring possibilities to bring more money in for these guys. We have to be able to respond. Without question, Italy has raised the ante. Right now, we’re way below-- way below--what we need to be doing.”

Former players agree.

“The policy is continually changing and eroding as their position gets weaker,” Timmons said. “They don’t have the money to entice the best players and keep them in camp. It can be a sub-standard form of living being with them full time.

“They’re up against enticements, and I don’t think they can compete. Flat out, I don’t think they can compete. But as it gets closer to 1992, their position may get stronger. Then, they will have something. Playing in the Olympics is the biggest exposure for a volleyball player.”

Said Sinjin Smith, who played on the national team in 1979-81 and then joined Randy Stoklos to form the most successful beach tandem: “I don’t think the national team has proven it’s out to get the best players. I don’t think they do enough internally, business-wise, to attract the best players.”

The national team has three major sponsors--Twix candy bar and Miller Lite, for monetary support, and Mizuno for cash and equipment. The major complaint of most players who have left is that more money should be out there.

Neville concurs.

“I’ve got to believe somebody out there will just say, ‘I like America, and I want to support some of its best athletes,’ ” Neville said. “We’ve got to give these people a chance to succeed on this team.”

The USVBA has taken some noteworthy steps to keep the best players in the fold. Responding to the continuing defections, it instituted a sabbatical-like system in which players can make their money and still return to the national team. To qualify for the “flex policy,” they must have established seniority by competing in at least four consecutive major events--the Olympics, World Championships, World Cup and Pan American Games.

This seems to have made a difference. Craig Buck returned from playing in Europe, bringing a much-needed veteran influence to a team with relatively little international experience. Dvorak may be back in time to play in the World Championships in Brazil, Neville said. Ctvrtlik, Stork and Doug Partie are possibilities down the line, and Timmons and Kiraly are talking to association officials about returning in the future.

Neville is trying to be flexible, handling each player and timetable on a case-by-case basis. For example, Kiraly and Timmons, if they exercise the option year on the Italian contracts, would not be able to return to the United States until about six months before the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.

Meanwhile, the national team goes on, doing a poor imitation of its predecessors in the 1980s but already having improved after the addition of Buck five matches ago.

“Suddenly, we’re playing yesterday’s schedule with a new group of players,” Neville said. “Just strapping ‘USA’ on the back of jerseys doesn’t make you a great international team.”

Which is why the Americans lost four matches in a row to Canada in March, going 3-12 in games, and why they dropped consecutive matches to Cuba’s B team. But there is progress.

For the first time, the national team has implemented a summer development program for 30 to 35 players, creating a possible feeder system for current college players. It will be headed by Jim McLaughlin, coach of NCAA champion USC.

Young talent is already coming along fast enough, Neville said, to be ready by 1992:

--Allen Allen. A great leaper at 6 feet 2 1/2 and 222 pounds, he has settled down after runs of inconsistent play.

--Bob Samuelson. The Cal State Northridge graduate is most recognizable by his shaven head, but it’s his booming hits that deserve the most attention. “Our young Nolan Ryan,” Neville said. “He can bury it. But he can also hurt somebody in the stands.”

--Trevor Sherman. He is joining the team after a fine career at UCLA.

--Marc Jones. Neville was aware of Jones when he played at San Diego, but the 6-6, 182-pound player didn’t make a real impression until coaches saw him in a recreation league game at San Diego’s Balboa Park gym, where the national team sometimes trains. He was asked to try out after that.

--Bryan Ivie. A senior-to-be at USC, he was named the most valuable player of the 1990 NCAA final four. “If anybody asks, ‘Who’s your young phenom?’ it is him,” Neville said.

Of this group, only Allen and Ivie are considered among the starters and top two reserves.

The squad also includes three other starters that Olympic-year-only fans won’t recognize: Javier Gaspar, Jon Root and Mark Arnold.

American volleyball players are far better known outside the United States. That much, at least, hasn’t changed, since U.S. teams in the last decade were treated with rock-star status in some places. But they also won.

The Americans don’t win as much now. Not today, anyway. Tomorrow might be brighter.