Tommy Bowden is out as the head coach at Clemson, but the school wants to make clear that it didn’t force him out.

“Coach Bowden was not fired,” Clemson Athletic Director Terry Don Phillips said today at the school’s press conference to announce Bowden’s departure. “… I want to be very clear, he put it on the table, he put it on the table for the program and he felt it was the right time to move aside so that the program could move forward.”

Phillips also said “We both mutually agree that we think it’s the best thing to do, not only for the program but for him personally.”

Presumably, there are contractual reasons for Clemson to want to term this a resignation and not a firing, especially considering that Bowden just got a contract extension at the end of the 2007 season. But the bottom line is that Bowden is out.

Also out, according to several media reports, is offensive coordinator Rob Spence, who was not retained by interim head coach Dabo Swinney.