Vikings Coaching Candidates

It seems inevitable at this point, there will be an opening for a head coach in Minnesota soon.

So who should the Vikings hire as their next head coach?

Here's 10 names to keep an eye on:

1. Tom O'Brien - head coach at Penn State.  His name has already been thrown out there.  He's highly respected at Penn State, he formerly coached under Bill Belichick with the Patriots, he has head coaching experience, he has NFL experience.  He makes some sense.  On the downside?  He's got a big buyout at Penn State and the Bill Belichick coaching tree really hasn't been that impressive. 
2. Lovie Smith - former head coach of the Bears.  He's got the requisite NFL head coaching experience and a decent track record.  He ran schemes not too different from what the Vikings have been running so the adjustment period for the players wouldn't be too extreme. 
3. Ken Whisenhunt - offensive coordinator of the Chargers.  He's done a nice job with the Chargers offense in his one year in San Diego.  He has head coaching experience with the Cardinals.  He's coached in the Super Bowl.  My reservation with Whisenhunt is that his record in Arizona without Kurt Warner wasn't too impressive, he may need to go somewhere with an established QB.  
4. Jack Del Rio - defensive coordinator of the Broncos.  He's a former Viking player, he was popular when he was in Minnesota, he's got NFL head coaching experience, he's still relatively young, and much like Lovie Smith I'm guessing he'd be a decent mesh with the current group of players.
5. Todd Bowles - defensive coordinator of the Cardinals.  He's done a tremendous job with the Cardinals.  If you want to go with a young up and coming defensive minded coach Bowles could be your guy.  If he would bring Bruce Arians offensive approach all the better.
6. Ray Horton Jr - defensive coordinator of the Browns, formerly the defensive coordinator for the Cardinals.  He's got a great track record in both places.  He interviewed for several openings last year, his time is coming, it just seems to be a matter of when.  
7. Darrell Bevell  - offensive coordinator of the Seahawks. He's also a  former offensive coordinator for the Vikings so he's got those Minnesota ties that many find important.  He's done a nice job with the Seahawks.  He was shackled by Brad Childress with the Vikings.  I'm guessing he's a long shot but you never know, he may have left a positive impression on someone in the Vikings front office.
8. Mike Zimmer - defensive coordinator of the Bengals.  He's done a nice job with the Bengals defense and from everything that I hear he's a tremendous leader who is ready for the next step up.  He could be too intense for some though (***Mike Zimmer would be my pick). 
9. Jay Gruden - offensive coordinator of the Bengals.  Just like Zimmer, Gruden has done a nice job with the Bengals.  Just like his brother Jon, Jay is a very intense, personable guy, I think he'd bring a lot of energy to the Vikings, that's something that's been sorely missing under Leslie Frazier.
10. Greg Roman - offensive coordinator of the 49ers.  His run heavy offense would be a perfect fit for Adrian Peterson.  His experience working with Jim Harbaugh would have to be seen as a positive too.