Mike Gray - Football Coach

Mike Gray

Title:
Co-Defensive Coordinator / Linebackers Coach

Mike Gray enters his second season with Tulsa coaching staff. He was hired as the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach in January 2025.
Gray guided linebacker Ray Coney to an All-Conference season. Coney became the first TU linebacker to record 100+ tackles since Justin Wright.
Coney finished with 129 tackles, the sixth most in the nation.
Besides improving the pass defense, the TU defense improved by 100.1 total yards allowed per game, the ninth best improvement in the FBS.
Gray also coached Will Alexander to a breakout season. Alexander put up career highs in every defensive category. He was fourth on the team in tackles with 67 this season. His previous high was four.
Prior to joining the Golden Hurricane, Gray was an assistant secondary coach and defensive analyst for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
His NFL coaching started in 2023 with the Atlanta Falcons as their football analyst.
Gray spent three years at Gardner-Webb as an assistant coach.
Gray’s last two seasons have been productive, with rising junior linebacker William McRainey emerging as one of the top tacklers in the Big South. McRainey led the league in total hits in 2021 and was a first-team All-Big South Conference selection, helping the Gardner-Webb defense lead the Big South in third-down defense as a unit.
Gray’s work with a young group during the spring of 2021 helped Gardner-Webb’s defense make huge leaps in production. Despite a rash of injuries this past season, the linebacker corps remained a strong part of the Gardner-Webb attack.
Prior to joining the GWU staff, Gray spent two seasons as a graduate assistant with Coach Dave Doeren’s staff at NC State in the Atlantic Coast Conference. During his time with the Wolfpack, he was part of a staff that helped the 2018 team to a 9-4 record and a spot in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla.
Gray worked as a defensive intern in 2017 at Western Kentucky, primarily working with the Hilltoppers’ safeties that season. WKU won six games in the regular season that year and earned a berth in the Cure Bowl.
He started his coaching career during the spring semester following his final season, working with Coach Bobby Lamb’s staff as an undergraduate defensive line coach—working with former Gardner-Webb lineman Kenny Baker.
Gray played collegiately at Mercer University in Georgia, finishing his career with 180 total tackles, 10 tackles for loss, three sacks, and three interceptions. Gray played both linebacker and safety during his time with the Bears.
Gray earned a BBA with a double major in sports business and marketing from Mercer in 2017. He graduated Cum Laude with a 3.6 grade point average.