"Tennessee Titans defensive coordinator Jerry Gray got a wakeup call from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this morning. It wasn't the wakeup call he was hoping for.

Gray said in a text to The Tampa Tribune that he was officially eliminated as a candidate for the Bucs' head coaching position during a call from general manager Mark Dominik.

"Told me they were going in a different direction," said Gray, who was one of nine known candidates to have interviewed for the job since it opened up Jan, 2 following the firing of Raheem Morris.

More eliminations may be coming throughout the day. A source with knowledge of the Bucs' coaching search told the Tribune that the team was planning to pare down its list of candidates this morning."