Heartbreaking news: Oregon State Beavers football head coach Trent Bray just announced a departure of his three players

I’ve written before about Bray’s childhood lugging cables on the sidelines of Washington State’s Martin Stadium. His dad, Craig, then a Cougars assistant and later Oregon State’s defensive coordinator for the Fiesta Bowl run, would host team dinners at the family home.

Earlier this week, I reached out to former Oregon State baseball coach Pat Casey. The three-time national champion has been in Corvallis for the better part of three decades.

He’s seen a lot of change and gotten to know a lot of coaches. Smith would drop by Casey’s house near campus and, over a beer, the two would talk about life and coaching and family. Casey, who first met Smith as a high schooler who was considering playing two sports at Oregon State, offered a healthy dose of perspective for Beavers fans.

“I’ve seen this happen before,” Casey said. “‘Hey, a guy’s gonna leave and it’s over. Shoot, when Dennis (Erickson) left, you know, the program was going to go right back to the 28 losing seasons.”

This is, of course, a different situation. Oregon State wasn’t facing the college football equivalent of relegation when Erickson left. Nor was the athletic department bracing for a dramatic cratering of its operating budget.

Bray has his work cut out for him as a first-time head coach to steer this program through the fog. He is young, smart and high-energy. If he wasn’t going to be the head coach here, he would have been the most in-demand defensive coordinator in the country, with USC reportedly interested.

Maybe his inexperience makes him a riskier hire in Corvallis than reported candidates such as former Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst and ex-BYU and Virginia coach Bronco Mendenhall — who both have OSU roots, as wel

Smith pulled off a near miracle rebuilding the Beavers’ culture and imbuing the program with a winning mentality. No matter how many bruises he left behind with his heavily telegraphed departure barely 12 hours after getting hammered by Oregon, Smith’s six years in Corvallis go down as one of the most impressive coaching jobs we’ve seen anywhere.