Allegations Against Brande Have Kept Him From Rightful Place

Charlie Brande should be too hoarse to speak this morning. His voice should be as gravelly as a dry riverbed.

His vocal cords should be paying the price for all the ranting, raving, cheering and praising he should have been doing from the Corona del Mar bench Saturday night while the Sea Kings won the Southern Section 5-A girls’ volleyball championship.

But Brande was not on the bench. He was in the stands, passively--helplessly--watching the team that was taken away from him just a few days before the season began this fall.

On Aug. 24, Brande was fired as Corona del Mar’s girls’ and boys’ volleyball coach. Corona del Mar officials say it is because Brande, perhaps the most successful coach in Orange County youth volleyball history, is under investigation by the Southern Section for allegations relating to the club teams he coaches.

Section rules prohibit coaches from working with players--except during the summer and the regular high school season--when those players have high school eligibility remaining. The allegations made against Brande contend he violated this rule.

Brande, 43, has coached youth teams since the mid-1970s--his Orange County Volleyball Club is one of the nation’s best. He says what he is doing now is no different than what he’d done before--coached high school and club volleyball while staying within the rules.

Those close to Brande--along with his adversaries--say Brande has his faults, but cheating is not one of them. Brande, they say, is one of the most hard-driving coaches in the sport--in practice, he occasionally has driven players to tears--and one who demands discipline and emotional control. The result is a long tradition of mentally tough teams.

But unethical practices are not within Brande’s nature. A Milli Vanilli he is not.

“I’ve known Charlie for 10 to 12 years, he can be very intense and very demanding,” said Steve George, who coaches the Santa Barbara Youth Volleyball Assn. “But he also has tremendous integrity. I don’t think he would ever cheat.”

Brande is alleged to have coached players on his club team with remaining eligibility, but most say he goes to almost ridiculous lengths to avoid even the appearance of such a practice. In the Orange County Volleyball Club’s organization, Brande coaches the seniors, while four assistant coaches work with the younger levels.

One of the allegations, Brande said, was based on a newspaper photo showing him standing with the club’s junior team, supposedly proving that he did, in fact, coach several of his players with remaining eligibility. But the photo was taken in July, a month when there are no restrictions on coaching players with eligibility.

South Bay Volleyball Club Coach Dale Flickinger, who took over the Corona del Mar team as interim coach at Brande’s request, said that during a club tournament in Santa Barbara, Brande’s senior team was scheduled to play one of the Orange Co. Volleyball Club’s junior teams in a match. Brande cleared his participation ahead of time.

“Charlie went up to the commissioner of the region and the tournament director before the match and said, ‘I need your opinion. Do you think I’ll be violating a CIF rule here if I coach this match?’ ” said Flickinger, who drives from his job in Torrance every day to coach the Sea Kings. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think a lot of coaches would do that. That’s why I drive 40 miles to support this guy.”

Dave Mohs, who has coached volleyball at Edison for 21 years and whose two daughters played for Brande at Corona del Mar, says he thinks Brande is being used as a political pawn. Mohs contends Corona del Mar Principal Tom Jacobson, the president of the Southern Section’s council, might be using Brande’s case as a way of building his reputation and proving he plays by the rules.

“Tom Jacobson is probably using this as a stepladder for himself,” Mohs said. “Jacobson’s made a big thing out of it. I really feel he just wants to get out of being a principal and get into a higher position in the CIF.”

Jacobson, principal at Newport Harbor until the Newport-Mesa School District ordered him and Dennis Evans to switch schools several years ago, has repeatedly refused comment.

The Southern Section scheduled a hearing for Brande, but it has been postponed four times. It’s now scheduled Dec. 4.

“The season will be over by then anyway,” Brande said. “It’s a no-win situation.”

And for high school volleyball, losing Brande is a no-win situation as well.