4 Candidates Miami Dolphins Should Consider to Replace Tony Sparano

The Miami Dolphins fired head coach Tony Sparano on Monday, ending a season-long whirlwind of rumors on when he would be let go. 

Here's the confirmation (and short-but-sweet) tweet from ESPN's Adam Schefter:

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Dolphins fired Tony Sparano.

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The Dolphins also announced that Todd Bowles, Miami's assistant head coach and secondary coach, would assume the interim tag. 

With the first step out of the way, the next question in restructuring the Dolphins coaching staff will be finding a new head coach to start in 2012.

It's still early in the process, but the following coaches could be in the running:

Todd Bowles: Every indication points to the Dolphins giving Bowles a chance to win himself the job over the next three games. That's not a big sample size, like, say, Leslie Frazier's was in Minnesota last season, but it's enough to show the Stephen Ross and Jeff Ireland that he's the right guy.   

Rob Chudzinski: If there's a front runner for the job, I'd say it's Chudzinski. The Dolphins are likely to get a young quarterback in the 2012 NFL draft, and Chudzinski has experience working with young quarterbacks as the current offensive coordinator of the Carolina Panthers.

Chudzinski also played and started his coaching career in south Florida at the University of Miami. He was the offensive coordinator there from 2001-03.    

Mike Zimmer: If the Dolphins want to pick a head coach on the defensive side of the ball, there may be no hotter assistant coaching name than Mike Zimmer, who is currently the Bengals defense coordinator.  

Jeff Fisher: Here's your darkhorse candidate. Fisher has said he wants to get back into coaching, and the Dolphins job would be a fresh start. Keep your eye on Fisher if the Dolphins go in a different direction than Bowles.