CORVALLIS - Ron McBride didn't have a lot of answers, but questions began piling up in his mind when Gary Andersen did not return his text messages.

The two regularly communicate and McBride often visited and counseled Andersen and his staff during stints at Utah State, Wisconsin and most recently Oregon State.

So when messages from McBride went unreturned over the weekend after the Beavers lost at USC, he grew concerned and assumed something must be wrong with his protege. He was floored by the Monday news Andersen had mutually parted ways with OSU.

"I wish I knew that he was planning on doing this because I would obviously talked him out of it or tried to do anything I could have done to help him get through it," McBride said Monday.

McBride, the legendary 77-year-old former Utah football coach, has been one of Andersen's biggest coaching influences. The former OSU coach suited up for McBride as an offensive lineman with the Utes during the 1980s. Andersen then served on his staff from 1997-2002.

But even with his lengthy history and rapport with Andersen, McBride's shock at the decision mirrored the many surprised faces around the nation, including Washington coach Chris Petersen when the news broke to him at his weekly press conference.

This is the reaction from Chris Petersen when Softy was the one that told him of Gary Andersen leaving Oregon State. He was a bit surprised pic.twitter.com/IvIgHcOgzG — Kevin Shockey (@KevinShockey) October 10, 2017

The ripple effects of Andersen's decision to walk away six games into his third season and leave more than $12 million on the table will be long-lasting. And as the Beavers pick up the pieces for the second half of the season under interim coach Cory Hall, unanswered questions remained Monday about why Andersen and OSU split so suddenly.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reported that Andersen grew increasingly discouraged as the results just didn't materialize and multiple sources told The Oregonian/OregonLive of internal dissension among some members of the assistant coaching staff.

OSU athletic director Scott Barnes on Monday said the coach was not in position to be fired for cause, did not have any serious health issues or other family-related issues. He would not elaborate on their conversations leading up to the mutual agreement, only saying those discussions "evolved" over time.

Barnes, a friend of Andersen since hiring him at Utah State before the 2009 season, publicly supported the coach less than two weeks earlier.

But Andersen did not go into details when addressing his mid-season departure with his team Monday during a regularly scheduled meeting. Running back Ryan Nall said Andersen told OSU players the discussion had been "brewing up for the past couple weeks."

Still, players were blindsided as Andersen tearfully explained that he had already coached his final game at Oregon State before their talk concluded with a group hug.

"It was a shock honestly," Nall said. "Coach A, when you see him get emotional like that, it's usually about family. That was my first reaction when that happened: did something happen to his family? Lo and behold, something did. We are his family."

Nall, one of 23 players remaining from the Mike Riley era, said the day was similar to when Riley surprisingly departed for Nebraska in 2014. He talked about players grieving, as tributes from players to Andersen continued to pour in over social media.

Riley said at his Monday press conference in Lincoln, Nebraska, that he initially thought word of Andersen leaving was "fake news" and did not know how to comment.

Some players shed tears as they left the meeting. Hall said he would not take over Andersen's office during the remaining seven weeks of the season and referred multiple times Monday to playing the season for Andersen.

When asked, Nall said he did not think Andersen had lost the locker room or that he quit on the team, even if the circumstances surrounding his departure were vague.

"If he would have quit, he wouldn't have shown up today," Nall said.

From afar, those who played for Andersen were similarly surprised by his departure.

"I wish I knew what the answer was as to why it didn't all work," said Atlanta Falcons offensive lineman Sean Harlow, a Riley-era recruit who played two seasons for Andersen.

The Beavers finished at 4-8 in 2016 but concluded the year with their two best performances of the Andersen tenure during victories over Arizona and Oregon. Offseason communication to former upperclassmen indicated that players were building on an established foundation while fully operating out of the Valley Football Center following a $46 million renovation.

"I honestly thought they would at least double our wins from the 2016 season," said former offensive guard Dustin Stanton, one of three senior linemen the Beavers lost entering the year.

But Hall and Nall - the lone OSU coach and player made available Monday - did not have answers as to why the previous year that ended with such forceful positive momentum thudded to a halt so quickly and resulted in Andersen's departure.

Ron McBride, seen in 2008, went 88-63 in 13 seasons at Utah and has been a long-time confidant of Gary Andersen.

McBride was among the parties without answers, including when he met with Andersen in Corvallis following the Beavers' 42-7 loss to No. 6 Washington on Sept. 30. The former Utah coach said he and Andersen spent hours dissecting what went wrong after OSU was outscored 35-7 in the second half.

McBride and Andersen did not come up with any solutions, but the former made plans to attend Saturday's game against Colorado based on his confidence results would start to turn favorable.

McBride did not know at the time that Saturday will mark the first game moving forward without Andersen as coach.

"This is not what he does. It's not in his DNA," McBride said. "He must be incredibly disappointed and incredibly down on himself for the team not being more productive.

"He internalizes it all."

-- Danny Moran