Brande Named Coach of UC Irvine Men’s Team

Charlie Brande, regarded as one of the nation’s top developers of volleyball talent on the club level, Tuesday was named UC Irvine men’s volleyball coach.

Brande has been director of the Balboa Bay Volleyball Club for men since 1976 and the Orange County Volleyball Club for women since 1982. His men’s teams have won 13 national championships and his women’s teams 22. Those programs have produced more than 200 collegiate players in that time.

Brande replaces Andy Read, who resigned last month after coaching the Anteaters four years. Brande, 48, is a 1969 UCI graduate in economics, and played basketball on the Anteaters’ first team in 1965-66.

Brande was an assistant men’s and women’s coach at Hawaii in 1980 and 1981, then was an assistant women’s coach at UCLA in 1982.

He also is a former head coach at Corona del Mar and Newport Harbor high schools. His boys’ and girls’ teams won four Southern Section championships and one state title in girls’ volleyball.

“Charlie is a gem, and being able to get him should really be a big plus for our program,” Irvine Athletic Director Dan Guerrero said. “Not only is he a proven coach, he has a great network in the volleyball community. With Charlie, we got the full package.”

Irvine competes in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, regarded as the nation’s top conference in men’s volleyball. UCLA, a 15-time NCAA champion in the sport, has won the last four conference titles.

The Anteaters were 8-17 this past season, 3-16 in the conference. Irvine was 11-65 in conference play during the four seasons Read was coach. The Anteaters set a school record for most victories in a season with a 9-14 finish in 1995. They were 6-13 in the conference.

“We’ve been working to improve the program in the last four years, but we know we still have to turn up the volume a little more,” Guerrero said.

“We’ve been able to incrementally improve [the funding for] the program from when it was a nonscholarship program four years ago. We have between 2.5 and three scholarships now, and we foresee being fully funded at 4.5 scholarships in the next couple of years. Men’s volleyball is a sport we want to emphasize. We play the best and we want to be the best.”

UCLA Coach Al Scates said the position should be a good fit for Brande.

“I know he has developed a lot of great kids from his youth programs, so he should have a strong recruiting base there,” Scates said. “Maybe not for this year, but he certainly knows if anybody was left after [most players] signed. . . . He should do a great job down there.”

Scates said funding could be a key factor in whether Brande is able to further elevate the Anteater program.

Guerrero said he believes Brande will be able to help from that standpoint because of his contacts.

Guerrero said continued involvement by Brande with his club programs is not a problem.

“The NCAA allows for club coaching within a 50-mile radius of the college program,” Guerrero said. “It’s not unlike the situation you find in soccer a lot.

“This will be a significant commitment for him, but he’s created a situation with his club programs where he has individuals to take care of a lot of that.”

Also contributing to this report was Times staff writer Wendy Witherspoon.