System and method of timing recovery for recovering a clock signal with reduced interaction between an adaptive channel estimator and the overall timing loop for correcting clock phase. The channel response estimation in the timing recovery loop is dynamically adapted to the current channel response that varies over time. The channel estimator includes compensation logic operable to detect and compensate a correction of clock phase ascribed to the channel estimator. The compensation logic can calculate the offset between a center of filter (COF) value and a COF nominal value, the offset indicative of the amount and direction of clock phase correction contributed by the channel estimator. Based on the offset, the compensation logic adjusts the estimates channel response by adjusting the tap weights of the channel estimator to correct the offset, thereby compensating the clock phase correction.