SOUTHERN SECTION VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS : In Charge of Champions, Flickinger Never Tires : Division I: When Charlie Brande was suspended, former volleyball coach took over a successful program.

Dale Flickinger’s day starts at 7 a.m., when he makes a short drive from his home in Redondo Beach to his job as an engineer at Hughes Aircraft in El Segundo.

Fourteen hours later, Flickinger’s day ends in the Corona del Mar High School gymnasium, coaching one of the best girls’ volleyball teams in the nation.

Flickinger has guided the Sea Kings, ranked third nationally by Volleyball Monthly magazine, to 25 consecutive victories and the State Division I championship game. They’ll play Mountain View St. Francis in the final at 7:30 tonight at Cal Poly Pomona.

The final will likely be Flickinger’s last match as coach. He was hired on an interim basis and said he probably won’t return next season. A former college coach, this was his first season coaching a high school team.

And it has been a season of transition from one job to another.

At Hughes, he’s in charge of eight engineers who design satellite propulsion systems.

When his shift ends at 4:30 p.m., he jumps in his car for the 40-mile commute to Corona del Mar. In traffic, he’s often on the freeway for an hour and a half.

Then, after the two hours of working with one of the most complex offenses in high school volleyball, Flickinger looks forward to another 40-mile drive.

Sometimes he wonders if the $1,700 he’s paid for coaching is worth it. “There were times when I was dead tired and I didn’t want to come down,” Flickinger said. “Or times when I was stuck in traffic. I had to remind myself, ‘Keep pushing myself for Charlie and those kids.’ ”

Flickinger was referring to one of his best friends, Charlie Brande, who was suspended as Sea Kings coach in the wake of a Southern Section investigation into his coaching of players with high school eligibility remaining on his club teams.

Brande recommended that Corona del Mar officials hire Flickinger, who had coached at USC and Arizona State in the late 1970s and early ‘80s.

Flickinger took over a team ranked second in Volleyball Monthly’s preseason national poll. The Sea Kings are rich in talent, led by middle blocker Lara Carlsen, outside hitter Tracy Schriber and setter Prentice Perkins.

“I feel I’ve gotten a lot of credit, most of which should go to Charlie,” Flickinger said. I think a lot of people could come in and coach this team.”

But it’s not that simple.

“Dale goes through hell, and he does it for us,” Perkins said. “Sometimes I look at him and say, ‘We’re not giving him enough credit.’ We never say, ‘thank you.’

“There are a lot of coaches who do it for themselves. But Charlie and Dale do it for the kids.”

When Flickinger took the job, he wasn’t sure if he would be coaching at the end of the season. He figured he would only be there a couple of weeks, until Brande ironed out his problems with the section.

But the investigation, and an appeal by Brande, have outlasted the season. A section committee will hear Brande’s appeal Tuesday.

The season didn’t get off to a great start. Corona del Mar lost to La Habra in the semifinals of the Orange County championships in September.

“I wasn’t down after the La Habra match,” Flickinger said. “I realized we were in transition. I thought we still had the best shot to win the Southern Section. I was just trying to find out what our kids would do under pressure.”

He was also finding out what he could do under pressure. He said the only pressure he has felt has come from within.

His low-key approach was something new to the Corona del Mar players. They had been used to Brande’s demanding practices and his criticism during games.

“I’m just not as intense as Charlie,” Flickinger said. “For me to go in and be like him, it would have been a joke. The players would have seen right through it.”

Flickinger, 43, was familiar with Brande’s coaching when their club teams played against each other.

In fact, Flickinger helped establish the Orange County Volleyball club in 1973, the program Brande now oversees. Flickinger coached at USC from 1977-78, then for four seasons at Arizona State.

When he left Arizona State in 1983, Flickinger returned to Hughes Aircraft, where he had worked while coaching at Orange County Volleyball.

Should the Southern Section rule against Brande, the Corona del Mar girls’ and boys’ jobs would be open. Flickinger says he’s not sure if he’d take the girls’ job again.

“It’s a tough call,” he said. “(Athletic Director Jerry) Jelnick told me my contract was renewed forever. But I don’t know how all this will work in my future schedule.”