for The Bleacher Report
Remember that feeling...That's how you will be remembered.
Starting the season with the widely regarded best talent in the ACC with a devastating loss to an unranked team was probably not the best idea if Tommy Bowden had designs on remaining the head coach of the Clemson Tigers past this year.
And as it turns out, it wasn't even a good recipe to survive the season.
In a meeting monday morning, Tommy Bowden offered to walk away midseason, telling the Atheletic Director that he would step aside for "the good of the program".
Clemson quarterback Cullen Harper agreed with the decision, “It’s what he deserved,” Harper said. “Dabo Swinney is a fine man and will do an excellent job.” Harper later expanded on his comments, explaining that Bowden “tried to motivate us, but guys were off the bandwagon. There were things I disagreed with and that my teammates disagreed with. I didn’t appreciate it when he would say some off-the-wall things about me to the media. I guess one thing I can say is he gave me an opportunity to come to Clemson and play.”
Bowden will be paid through the end of the season, then get $3.5 million as a buyout negotiated in the contract extension both sides agreed to last December.
Recent losses to Maryland and Wake Forest raised calls again for Bowden’s ouster despite the contract extension that tied him to the school through 2014.
“I appreciate the opportunity Clemson University gave me and the support of the administration while I was here,” Bowden said in a statement released by the school.
A Bowden could always replace Tommy Tuberville in Auburn, who was brought in to replace a similarly failed Bowden.
