With a talented corps of skill players returning and a string of highly ranked recruiting classes, Clemson University, its coaches, and its fans thought they'd be sitting pretty right now.  Pretty probably isn't the word they'd use now to describe their 3-3 performance at this point in the season.

For years Tommy Bowden has felt the weight of those lofty expectations.  Today Bowden felt the weight of the axe Athletics Director Terry Don Phillips used to chop up the remainder of his contract.

Clemson has fired Tommy Bowden.

Don't cry too much for Bowden, though.  Reports are that he stands to make about $4 million from the new contract extension he signed after flirting with Arkansas last winter.

Bowden was in his tenth season at Clemson and will leave the university with a 72-45 record over those ten years.

While he had a lot of highs during his time with the Tigers, most fans will remember his less-than-stellar performances in games that Clemson should have won handily.  There are only so many times you can win a few big games at the end of the year to save your job.  If Bowden were a cat, he would have used his eighth life last year in the Boston College game.  Unfortunately for him, this year's Wake Forest game killed that final life.

There's lots of buzz that Vanderbilt's Bobby Johnson is going to be a prime candidate to replace Bowden at Clemson.  Johnson is a native of South Carolina.  He coached and played at Clemson.  Oh yeah, he's also one of the hottest coaching names out there after actually winning a few games at Vanderbilt.

I know it's still too early to tell, but who do you think will replace Bowden?  Should be an interesting search.


CLEMSON FIRES TOMMY BOWDEN  (Spartanburg Herald Journal)


UPDATE:  Benched QB Cullen Harper Speaks To ESPN

Benched QB Cullen Harper, in comments to ESPN, had this to say about Bowden:

"They just told us. It's what he deserved," said senior quarterback Cullen Harper, who was benched after the Tigers' loss to Wake Forest loss and replaced by highly regarded sophomore Willy Korn. "Dabo Swinney is a fine man and will do an excellent job."

"I'd call it karma," he said. "I thought it needed to be done. I think anytime a head coach or someone in a leadership position starts to place blame on his coaches and players, it weakens their respect on the team. His past experiences have shown he's done that."

Ouch.  It's what he deserved?  That's brutal, even if it's true. 

No wonder Bowden didn't win more games with Harper at the helm.  Guess that says a lot about his character.  He should have plenty of time to think about what could have been while he's watching Willy Korn earn the respect and praise of the Clemson faithful.

I think this story is going to get weirder and weirder as the days go by.