Background
Gray was born in Lubbock, Texas.
Gray was born in Lubbock, Texas.
Gray was a two-time consensus first-team All-American at the University of Texas. During his career, he was known for being an especially hard hitter. He had 297 career tackles, 16 interceptions and 20 passes broken up and played on four bowl teams at Texas coached by Fred Akers.
In 2013, he was inducted into the Football Hall of Fame.
He is currently the secondary coach for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League. Gray played college football at the University of Texas at Austin, where he garnered All-American honors. Thereafter, he played professionally for the Los Angeles Rams, Houston Oilers, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the NFL. Gray was the Rams" first-round choice in the 1985 NFL Draft and played seven years in Los Angeles before finishing his career with the Oilers in 1992 and the Buccaneers in 1993.
He had 28 career interceptions, including six for the Oilers in 1992.
Gray was selected to the Pro Bowl four times attending the game from 1986 through 1989. In his final appearance he earned Pro Bowl Most Valuable Player honors after recording 7 tackles and a 51-yard interception return for a touchdown.
After retiring as a player, Gray turned to coaching. His coaching career began in 1995 as a defensive backs coach for the SMU Mustangs football team
He then worked for the Tennessee Oilers as a Defensive Quality Control coach from 1997 to 1998 before being promoted to defensive backs coach in 1999 when the team name was changed from "Oilers" to "Titans".
In 2001, he was hired by former Titans defensive coordinator Gregg Williams to run the Buffalo Bills defense the same year Williams left Tennessee to become the Buffalo Head Coach. He served as the defensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills from 2001 to 2005, where he oversaw one of the top defenses in the NFL until his final season. The Bills ranked 2nd in total defense in both 2003 and 2004.
After the 2005 season he was hired by the Washington Redskins to serve as their defensive backs coach On January 18, 2010, Gray was hired as the new defensive backs coach for the Seattle Seahawks.
On January 17, 2011, Gray agreed to return to his alma mater Texas as the assistant head coach and defensive backs coach. On February 12, 2011, however, Gray rejoined the Titans as their defensive coordinator.
On January 22, 2014, Gray was hired as the new defensive backs coach for the Minnesota Vikings.