The Tennessee Titans have hired University of Texas assistant coach, and Lubbock native, Jerry Gray to become their new defensive coordinator. The hiring came just a month after Gray was hired at his alma mater Texas to coach with Mack Brown.

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The hiring became official on Saturday as Gray became the first major hiring for new Titan head coach Mitch Munchak. Munchak was hired just weeks ago to replace Jeff Fischer, who parted ways with Tennessee after 16 seasons at the helm.

The hiring for Munchak was an easy one. “Jerry has a number of qualities that I think are assets for this role: he played the game, he coached a position group and he has coordinating experience,” said Titans head coach Mike Munchak. “I respected him as a player and coach and he was someone that I knew right away that I wanted to talk to about the position.”

Gray was set to make $425,000 per year as the Longhorns assistant head coach and secondary coach. Gray’s pay new has said to be at least double that to become the DC for the Titans.

This isn’t the first defensive coordinator job for Gray as he served it for the Buffalo Bills from 2001 to 2005. Most recently, Gray was the secondary coach for the Seattle Seahawks this last season, which was the first under head coach Pete Carroll.

His NFL career spans over 20 years. Gray has coached in the NFL for 14 seasons and was a player for nine seasons; highlighted by four Pro Bowl selections. During his nine years in the league, Gray played for the L.A. Rams, the Houston Oilers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

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Even though Gray went to the University of Texas, the Lubbock native still contributes to his hometown and its community. Gray has a founded the Jerry Gray Foundation which gives college scholarships to Lubbock high school students.

Gray lettered in football, basketball and track at Estacado High in Lubbock and was inducted into the Texas High School Hall of Fame in 1995 and recently named to the All-Time Texas High School team. Gray is also an inductee to the inaugural class of the LISD Hall of Honor, which was announced in December.

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