Despite denials by both sides, Dolphins owner Stephen Ross and former Chiefs president Carl Peterson continue to discuss the idea of Peterson joining the team in an executive position, multiple league sources said this week.

“Both want to make it work,” one NFL source said. “[Stephen] Ross wants more management experience” in the organization.

One source said no deal had been struck as of early Wednesday, with the sides needing to work out exact responsibilities and compensation. But several people said momentum is building toward Peterson joining the team, potentially as executive vice president/football operations.

If the talks do not materialize into a formal job, Peterson would still consult Ross as a close friend.

If he takes the job, Peterson would be the top executive on the football side, above general manager Jeff Ireland. But Ireland still could remain in charge of day-to-day personnel decisions, with Peterson offering input. Peterson once hired Ireland as a scout in Kansas City, and the two men get along.

If the job materializes quickly, Peterson could join the team’s search for a new coach. Peterson was the Chiefs’ president, CEO and general manager from 1989 to 2008, during which Kansas City was 176-141-1, with nine playoff appearances.

ESPN initially reported this week that Peterson would join the Dolphins. Though Peterson said the report was inaccurate, Ross did not rule it out during his Monday news conference, saying only that it had not been discussed.

Coaching updates

Dan Marino told the Dolphins’ website on Wednesday that he doesn’t expect Miami to lure Bill Cowher, who was an assistant coach with the Chiefs during Peterson’s tenure.

“I would love to see him be the Dolphins coach, but I don’t think his mindset is that he wants to coach again,” Marino said. “He may change that over time but my feeling is that he’s a pretty straight-forward guy that tells the truth all the time. And he said on TV that he doesn’t have any plans to come back [and coach]. I believe him.”

• Peterson has high regard for Marty Schottenheimer, 68, who was 101-58 during Peterson’s tenure in Kansas City, and 200-126 overall (but just 5-13 in the playoffs). Schottenheimer, who won a title in the UFL this year, cannot be ruled out as a fallback possibility, though he is not considered among the team’s top targets.

• LSU coach Les Miles — who would be considered by the Dolphins if they cannot lure a big NFL name such as Cowher, Jon Gruden, Jeff Fisher or Brian Billick — has tried to diffuse any such speculation. “He wanted everyone to know that he is not interested in the Miami job,” LSU spokesman Michael Bonnette said.

Draft talk

The Dolphins enter Week 15 holding the seventh spot in the first round of the draft, behind Indianapolis (0-13), the St. Louis Rams and Minnesota Vikings (both 2-11), the Washington Redskins (4-9), Carolina Panthers (4-9) and Jacksonville Jaguars (4-9).

Six teams, including the Dolphins, are 4-9. Of those six, the teams whose opponents have the worst winning percentages would get the highest picks among the six. The Dolphins should be most concerned with potential tiebreakers with Washington and Cleveland because both teams also need quarterbacks. The Redskins have a significant lead over the Dolphins in that strength of schedule tiebreaker (.456 to .524), meaning Washington likely would pick ahead of Miami if both teams finish tied. If the Dolphins and Browns finish tied, it will be a tossup. Miami’s opponents this season are 109-99. Cleveland’s are 110-98.

Among quarterbacks, ESPN’s Mel Kiper has Andrew Luck first among all prospects, Matt Barkley sixth, Robert Griffin III 11th and Landry Jones 14th. But many expect Griffin will rise into the top 10. Barkley, Griffin and Jones — all juniors — have not said whether they are turning pro.

Davie, FL (Sports Network) – The Miami Dolphins fired head coach Tony Sparano on Monday.

The move comes one day after the Dolphins lost 26-10 to the Philadelphia Eagles to fall to 4-9 on the season.

Sparano, who signed a two-year contract extension in January, was in his fourth year with the Dolphins.

Assistant/secondary coach Todd Bowles will coach the Dolphins for the final three games of the season.

“I would like to announce that the Miami Dolphins are making a change in our head coaching staff,” owner Stephen Ross said during a Monday press conference. “Todd Bowles will be our new interim head coach and replace Tony Sparano, who has been a wonderful person and has done a wonderful job. It is with a lot of regret that I feel it is in the best interest of the Miami Dolphins to replace him at this time.”

The Kansas City Chiefs canned head coach Todd Haley earlier Monday.

Sparano has been on the hot seat since the Dolphins started the year with seven straight loses. But Miami responded with four wins in its last six games.

The Dolphins went 11-5 and won the AFC East in Sparano’s first season (2008), ending the franchise’s six-year playoff drought.

But Miami went 7-9 over the next two seasons.

Ross is confident that Bowles can lead the Dolphins, and confirmed that Bowles will get a chance to interview for the full-time job at the end of the season.

“I think Todd Bowles will do an outstanding job as the new head coach,” Ross said. “He has the respect of his players. I think he will excerpt the same dedication that Tony has.”

The search process will start immediately for a full-time head coach.

Prior to being hired by the Dolphins, Sparano had a five-year stint as an assistant coach with the Dallas Cowboys. He was also an assistant with the Cleveland Browns, Washington Redskins and Jacksonville Jaguars, and was a head coach on the collegiate level with Division II New Haven from 1994-98.

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The Dolphins can now officially join the party.

Welcome to the world of the Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Washington Redskins and Kansas City Chiefs. There was always a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny (think of this scene from Dumb and Dumber) glimmer of hope the Dolphins could actually run the table and perhaps grab a postseason berth. Not many outside the locker room thought it could actually happen, but the players felt anything was possible.

A sobering loss to the Dallas Cowboys eliminated any chance of that happening.  

Now, the Dolphins step into the realm of playing football without a purpose. Let me rephrase that. The Dolphins are officially “spoilers.” There is no carrot dangling at the end of the string, other than the dislike of losing. Being out of the playoff picture with five games remaining is the equivalent to a baseball team out of the pennant race by June.

What to do now?

The hardest part is living with the fact that it didn’t have to be this way. Thursday’s loss dropped to Dolphins to 0-4 in games decided by three points or less.

So close, yet so far away.

If the Dolphins just go .500 during those games, the outlook for the remainder of the season is completely different. At 5-6, there’s still a chance for the playoffs.  Instead, next season is the primary focus. Now, the remainder of the season is just a formality.

They reached this point because of an inept red-zone offense against the Cowboys. Five trips inside the 20 (counting the time they made the 21-yard line and Shayne Graham missed a 47-yard field goal) should never produce just 12 points. They left too many points on the field.

“When we get in the red zone, we have to score touchdowns instead of field goals,” tackle Jake Long said. “We were shooting ourselves in the foot.”

Actually, it was more like a shot to the head. There are no twitching body parts on this season.

The fun ride the Dolphins were on the past three weeks is a thing of the past. Reality of a disappointing season is about to set in.

In some ways, 0-7 was probably more enjoyable than 3-8. At least then the Dolphins could think about making that magical run the final nine games.

That’s no longer the case.

The Miami Dolphins need to hire Gruden as their head coach.

The Jacksonville Jaguars need to hire Gruden as their head coach.

He brings buzz and offensive imagination. He’s won a Super Bowl ring and many other championships. He has Florida ties and knows how to coach young quarterbacks.

No, knuckleheads, I’m not talking about Jon Gruden.

I’m talking about Orlando’s own Jay Gruden, the first-year offensive coordinator for the shockingly good Cincinnati Bengals.

Jon, his more famous brother, just signed a lucrative 5-year extension to continue being an analyst on Monday Night Football, but not to worry. Now there is another Gruden whose name will soon be white-hot and mentioned for every NFL head-coaching vacancy that comes along. It would behoove the Jags or Dolphins to hire him while they still can.

“I have a long way to go before that happens,” says Jay, whose Bengals are 4-2 and one of the surprise teams in the league heading into their bye week. “I’m just trying to figure out a way to beat Seattle in our next game. I don’t think about what might be four or five years down the road. I’ve never worried about any job except the one I have.”

I’ve been saying for years Jay is the best coach in the Gruden family. Except he never self-promoted or went after big-time jobs. He was always satisfied being his own man — a championship head coach with the Orlando Predators in the Arena League or the Orlando Tuskers in the United Football League. He got his NFL fix by being a part-time assistant on his brother’s Super Bowl-winning staff with the Tampa Bay Bucs.

Jay just wanted to coach ball and run his own show, even if the show played off-Broadway. The only reason he stopped coaching the Predators and Tuskers is because both their leagues would eventually go belly-up. He admits now it’s nice to be in the NFL, where he knows his paycheck isn’t going to bounce.

“That’s certainly a benefit,” he says and laughs. “I was in the Arena League and it went bankrupt. I was in the UFL and it started having financial problems. Then when I came to the NFL, there was a lockout. For a while, it was like I was a black cat.”

He also wondered what sort of mess he was getting into when — as soon as he took the offensive coordinator’s job in Cincinnati — franchise quarterback Carson Palmer announced he would rather retire than play another minute for the perennially pathetic Bungles. An extended standoff ensued in which Palmer forfeited his $11 million salary and moved back home to California.

At one point, Gruden was going to fly out west, introduce himself and try to persuade Palmer to come back and play in a new offensive system. Palmer sent word that he didn’t want to talk to anybody from the Bengals about football.

“If he didn’t want to talk about football, I wasn’t going to fly out to California to talk to him about his family,” Gruden says now. “I never talked to Carson one time, not once. But in the end, it worked out best for both parties.”

Gruden, of course, is talking about the blockbuster trade earlier this week in which the Bengals got two potential first-round draft picks from the Raiders in exchange for Palmer. It was, in my opinion, the shrewdest deal since Peter Minuit acquired Manhattan Island from the Algonquin Indians for $24, a dozen otter pelts and six bottles of firewater.

The Bengals already have a good, young nucleus of talent and now get two potential first-round picks for an aging, injury-prone quarterback who quit on his team. Are you kidding me? This was gridiron grand larceny by the Bengals, who already have a rookie quarterback in Andy Dalton, who may turn out to be the best of all the young quarterbacks starting this year (see Cam Newton, Tim Tebow, Blaine Gabbert, Christian Ponder, et al), and A.J. Green, the rookie wide receiver from Georgia who is a superstar in the making.

And, putting all the offensive pieces together is Gruden, one of the brightest offensive minds in football. I hate to say I told you so, but when Gruden was coaching the Preds and Tuskers, it was clear to me that he was way too talented to stay in Orlando forever.

“It would be like Kenny Chesney spending his entire career as a lounge singer at the Yeehaw Junction Holiday Inn or Picasso working in the paint department at Lowe’s,” I once wrote of Gruden coaching minor league football in Orlando.

Back then, I urged one of the state’s big-time college teams to hire him as a head coach or offensive coordinator, but they ignored me.

Their mistake.

Hopefully, the Jags and Dolphins don’t commit the same gaffe.

It’s time for one of our pitiful NFL teams to go get a Gruden as their next head coach.

Not Jon but Jay.

mbianchi@tribune.com. Follow him on Twitter at BianchiWrites. Listen to his radio show every weekday from 6 to 9 a.m. on 740-AM.

The Miami Dolphins have re-signed S Gerald Alexander. The Dolphins first signed Alexander on Aug. 29, only to terminate his contract on Sept. 3.

When the Dolphins first signed Alexander, this is what the team’s media relations department sent out about him:

“The 6-2, 209 pound Alexander has spent time with the Carolina Panthers (2010), Jacksonville Jaguars (2009-10) and Detroit Lions (2007-08). He has played in 41 career games, with 30 starts. In his career, Alexander has notched four interceptions, 2.0 sacks, four fumble recoveries, three forced fumbles and 14 passes defensed. He was originally selected by the Detroit Lions in the second round of the 2007 NFL Draft (29th overall) out of Boise State where he was a four-time First-Team All-WAC selection. Born June 28, 1984, Alexander attended Rancho Cucamonga (CA) High School where he was an outstanding football and track athlete and member of the school’s Honor Roll.”

So there you have it. Alexander, who played collegiately at Boise State, is back.

The question you have to ask, though, is why is he back? What does his re-signing say about the Dolphins’ needs at this particular time. Obviously, it says they need help in the secondary.

And this might be why: According to a source, Chris Clemons re-aggravated his hamstring injury late last week during practice. Clemons, who had been the team’s incumbent starter at free safety entering the season, has been hindered by hamstring problems since the preseason. He was inactive during the Dolphins’ 24-6 defeat at the New York Jets on Monday night.

If Clemons will be unable to play for a while – and it appears that could be the case – then the Alexander signing suddenly makes a lot of sense. Perhaps we’ll have a clearer understanding when we meet with Dolphins coach Tony Sparano later today.

To make room for Alexander, the Dolphins have placed WR Roberto Wallace on the injured reserve list. Wallace has been hampered by a quad injury.