Kyman Aids U.S. Team’s Rebuilding Effort : Volleyball: Two-sport standout at CSUN jockeying for berth on 1996 Olympic team with surprising play in the Pan American Games.

First came the gold, then the green. For the past two U. S. Olympic volleyball teams, gold-medal efforts have paid off with lucrative post-Olympic careers.

Karch Kiraly, he of the fearsome gaze and powerful fists. Steve Timmons, red-haired and fiery. Jeff Stork in the center. Bob Cvrtlik on the outside. None of them are part of the U. S. squad playing in the Pan American Games here, yet all are in the minds of the players trying to earn a berth on the 1996 Olympic team.

Kiraly and Timmons are making about a million dollars each playing for an Italian team during the winter. Kiraly is making an additional $100,000 or so in beach volleyball.

In the meantime, the U.S. men’s national team is in the process of rebuilding. At the Pan American Games, the United States is 2-1 and still alive for a medal after beating Puerto Rico, 15-6, 15-9, 12-15, 15-12, on Monday.

One of the players leading the way is 6-foot-5 Coley Kyman, a volleyball and football standout at Cal State Northridge.

“Coley is a real natural athlete,” said Jim McLaughlin, coach of the U.S. team. “I’d like to see him talk to our national head coach right now and develop a plan where he could do both (volleyball and football). He is real talented. He’s been a pleasant surprise.”

Kyman, a junior hitter at Northridge who played sparingly at quarterback for CSUN last fall, has been playing volleyball since his freshman year at Reseda High. He has his mind set on a dual career.

“I’d like to play in the Olympics as well as in the NFL,” he said. “I still have a lot of work to do. My strength is attack, but I really need to work on my two-handed blocking.”

He was part of the team that played in the World University Games in Sheffield, England, earlier this summer, bringing home a silver medal. Against Puerto Rico, he had 13 kills, despite being bothered by a sprained ankle.

The rest of the national team, meanwhile, is at home training for the NORCECA Zone championships in two weeks in Canada, an important competition among the best teams in North and Central America and the Caribbean. The U.S. men must finish first or second there to qualify for the next World Cup.

“We thought the priority was the North Zone championships, so we wanted to send our best team there,” said McLaughlin, who is also the head coach at USC. As a result, the Pan Am Games team is younger and less experienced--call it the United States’ “B” team.

“I think you’ll see two or three of these guys in 1996,” McLaughlin said, referring to the Atlanta Olympic Games. “It’s a little too soon for them in 1992. They need more time to develop. No experience but a lot of talent. They just need to play a lot of international matches.”

McLaughlin is hoping for a gold here, but realistically he would be satisfied with a silver or bronze. But for the players, the experience is worth more than any precious metal. And that bodes well for the future of the United States’ volleyball program.

“There are some guys on this team that will give us a good start, a good foundation,” he said. “I don’t know if you could compare them to Karch and Steve and the guys on the ’88 team. Making a comparison isn’t fair to these guys. I don’t know if there’ll ever be a team like the ’88 team.

“We’re going to need some other, bigger athletes. We need some size. This team’s pretty small. You look around at some of the other teams and they’re averaging 6-5, 6-6, 6-7. Holland has a couple of 7-footers.

“We’ve never been the fastest, the quickest, the strongest, but we’ve been better tactically, and we’ve been better over time.”