NASHVILLE, Tenn. -

The Tennessee Titans parted ways with two coaches on Wednesday. 

Secondary coach Marcus Robertson and assistant secondary coach Curtis Fuller were informed they will not be retained for the 2012-2013 season.

“I want to thank Marcus and Curtis for their time here. After meeting with the coordinators over the last couple of days, we decided to make this move today,” headcoach Mike Munchak said in a release.

Robertson had been with the Titans organization for 19 years and served as a coach for five years.

“Letting Marcus go was not an easy thing. He spent so many great years with this organization as a player, front office employee and a coach. I respect both men, but I wanted to move in a different direction for both of these spots. The interview process might take some time, but we will find the right fits for the secondary room moving forward,” Munchak said.

No additional information was immediately released.

For more information on the Titans, visit their Web site.

POTENTIAL TITANS FREE AGENTS

CORNERBACK
Cortland Finnegan
FULLBACK
Ahmard Hall
DEFENSIVE END
Dave Ball
William Hayes
Jason Jones
GUARD
Jake Scott
LINEBACKER
Patrick Bailey
Barrett Ruud
Tim Shaw
LONG SNAPPER
Ken Amato
SAFETY
Jordan Babineaux
Michael Griffin
Chris Hope
Anthony Smith
TACKLE
Mike Otto
TIGHT END
Craig Stevens
WIDE RECEIVER
Donnie Avery
Lavelle Hawkins

Bucs want Gray

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are interested in interviewing Titans defensive coordinator Jerry Gray for their head coaching job, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Tampa Bay fired Coach Raheem Morris on Monday.
In his first season as defensive coordinator with the Titans, Gray’s unit finished 18th overall (24th vs. the run, 14th vs. the pass).

NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Titans will spend the offseason thinking of the three games that cost them a playoff berth and looking ahead to a promising second season with Mike Munchak as head coach.

Just how many players are back for 2012 remains to be seen with contracts of more than 20 expiring. With Munchak taking over a team that went 6-10 and didn’t have an offseason because of the lockout, the Titans have high expectations for what’s next.

“Who would have thought we’d be 9-7?” fullback Ahmard Hall said Monday after the Titans cleaned out lockers. “Who would give us a chance to be 9-7? Munch is building something great here, and everybody wants to be a part of that.”

Hall is among those whose contracts are up, meaning the Titans have plenty of personnel work ahead.

For a franchise that got rid of a quarterback and head coach a year ago, handling a secondary with four pending free agents should be much easier. Defensive captain and cornerback Cortland Finnegan and safeties Chris Hope, Michael Griffin and Jordan Babineaux all are up with no contract talks since Finnegan bolted training camp in August.

Finnegan doesn’t sound as if he expects to be back, though he hopes to return after six seasons in Tennessee.

“Coach Munchak is building something really special around here,” Finnegan said. “He plans to talk to everyone. We’ll see what the future holds.”

Munchak said the salary cap will decide how many players the Titans keep. He hopes they keep as many as possible in free agency along with another crop of rookies to go with a 2011 draft class that had three starters on defense.

A fourth rookie, Karl Klug, led the Titans with seven sacks, and the Titans ranked eighth in the NFL in points allowed per game.

“You’ve got a nice little core here, so I think it’s something we can build on,” Munchak said. “I think that’s part of the excitement of selling to the guys that are in this room is that yeah, 9-7 was OK. It wasn’t quite good enough this year, but a lot of good things happened at 9-7 that we’re excited about as an organization, as a team and that we can build on.”

The Titans finished the season beating the Houston Texans 23-22, missing out on their first playoff berth since 2008 when the Jets lost to Miami and Denver lost to Kansas City. That left Tennessee tied with Cincinnati but losing the head-to-head tiebreaker due to a Nov. 6 loss to the Bengals when the Titans blew a 10-point lead and lost 24-17.

“Hopefully the lesson we learned is you can’t hope that someone else can do your job for you,” Munchak said. “We had to earn our way in, and we didn’t.”

Tennessee also lost its opener 16-14 in Jacksonville and became the first team to lose to the previously winless Colts 27-13 on Dec. 18 when a win would have put the Titans into the AFC’s sixth and final playoff spot.

At least Munchak has his quarterbacks in veteran Matt Hasselbeck and Jake Locker going into a full offseason to push for the starting job. Hasselbeck started all 16 games and became the first quarterback for this franchise not named Warren Moon to throw for at least 3,500 yards. He finished with 3,571 yards passing with 18 touchdown passes and 14 interceptions. Locker threw for four TDs with a 99.4 passer rating coming off the bench in five games.

Munchak said the quarterbacks will compete again with the player who should start being an obvious decision when the time comes.

He plans on keeping his coordinators, giving Chris Palmer time to work on an offense that ranked 17th in the NFL in passing even though top receiver Kenny Britt tore his right ACL in September.

The biggest focus will be on a run game that ranked 31st in the league averaging a measly 89.9 yards. Chris Johnson ran for a career-low 1,047 yards after missing the preseason before getting his new contract extension.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Titans will spend the off-season thinking of the three games that cost them a playoff berth and looking ahead to a promising second season under coach Mike Munchak.

Just how many are back for 2012 remains to be seen with contracts of more than 20 Titans expiring. With Munchak taking over a team that went 6-10 and didn’t have an off-season due to the lockout, the Titans have high expectations for what’s next.

“Who would have thought we’d be 9-7?” fullback Ahmard Hall said Monday after the Titans cleaned out lockers. “Who would give us a chance to be 9-7? Munch is building something great here, and everybody wants to be a part of that.”

Hall is among those whose contracts are up, meaning the Titans have plenty of personnel work ahead.

For a franchise that got rid of a quarterback and head coach a year ago, handling a secondary where four defensive backs are pending free agents should be much easier. Defensive captain and cornerback Cortland Finnegan and safeties Chris Hope, Michael Griffin and Jordan Babineaux all are up with no contract talks since Finnegan bolted training camp in August.

Finnegan doesn’t sound as if he expects to be back, though he hopes to return after six seasons in Tennessee.

“Coach Munchak is building something really special around here,” Finnegan said. “He plans to talk to everyone. We’ll see what the future holds.”

Munchak said the salary cap will decide how many players they keep. He hopes they keep as many as possible in free agency along with another crop of rookies to go with a promising draft class where three started on defence.

“You got a nice little core here, so I think it’s something we can build on,” Munchak said. “I think that’s part of the excitement of selling to the guys that are in this room is that yeah, 9-7 was OK. It wasn’t quite good enough this year, but a lot of good things happened at 9-7 that we’re excited about as an organization, as a team and that we can build on.”

The Titans finished the season beating the Houston Texans 23-22, missing out on their first playoff berth since 2008 when the Jets lost to Miami and Denver lost to Kansas City. That left Tennessee tied with Cincinnati but losing the head-to-head tiebreaker due to a Nov. 6 loss to the Bengals where the Titans blew a 10-point lead in losing 24-17.

“Hopefully the lesson we learned is you can’t hope that someone else can do your job for you,” Munchak said. “We had to earn our way in, and we didn’t.”

Tennessee also lost its opener 16-14 in Jacksonville and became the first team to lose to the previously winless Colts 27-13 on Dec. 18 when a win would have put the Titans into the AFC’s sixth and final playoff spot.

At least Munchak has his quarterbacks in veteran Matt Hasselbeck and Jake Locker going into a full off-season to push for the starting job. Hasselbeck started all 16 games and became the first quarterback for this franchise not named Warren Moon to throw for at least 3,500 yards. He finished with 3,571 yards passing with 18 touchdown passes and 14 interceptions. Locker threw for four TDs with a 99.4 passer rating coming off the bench in five games.

Munchak said the quarterbacks will compete again with the player who should start being an obvious decision when the time comes.

He plans on keeping his co-ordinators, giving Chris Palmer to work on an offence that ranked 17th in the NFL in passing even though top receiver Kenny Britt tore his right ACL in September.

The biggest focus will be on a run game that ranked 31st in the league averaging a measly 89.9 yards.

Chris Johnson ran for a career-low 1,047 yards after missing the pre-season before getting his new contract extension. He has plenty of incentives in that deal to spend plenty of time working in the Titans’ off-season program, and he said the Titans simply need to improve their execution.

A full off-season will help Jerry Gray’s defence too.

“We were limited in what we could do because guys were learning it on the run,” Finnegan said. “That’d be huge for this defence.”

A fourth rookie, Karl Klug, led Tennessee with seven sacks, and the Titans ranked eighth in the NFL in points allowed per game. But Tennessee still must find a way to tighten up a run defence gashed for big runs far too often, leading to a No. 24 ranking giving up 128.3 yards per game.

Notes: The Titans will pick 20th in April’s draft. … The Titans’ 2012 home schedule features visits from Houston, the Colts and Jaguars in the AFC South along with the Patriots, the Jets, the Steelers, Chicago and Detroit. Tennessee will visit its AFC South divisional rivals along with trips to Minnesota, Green Bay, Miami, San Diego and Buffalo after finishing second in the division.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)—The Tennessee Titans will spend the offseason
thinking of the three games that cost them a playoff berth and looking ahead to
a promising second season under coach Mike Munchak.

Just how many are back for 2012 remains to be seen with contracts of more
than 20 Titans expiring. With Munchak taking over a team that went 6-10 and
didn’t have an offseason due to the lockout, the Titans have high expectations
for what’s next.

“Who would have thought we’d be 9-7?” fullback Ahmard Hall said Monday
after the Titans cleaned out lockers. “Who would give us a chance to be 9-7?
Munch is building something great here, and everybody wants to be a part of
that.”

Hall is among those whose contracts are up, meaning the Titans have plenty
of personnel work ahead.

For a franchise that got rid of a quarterback and head coach a year ago,
handling a secondary where four defensive backs are pending free agents should
be much easier. Defensive captain and cornerback Cortland Finnegan and safeties
Chris Hope, Michael Griffin and Jordan Babineaux all are up with no contract
talks since Finnegan bolted training camp in August.

Finnegan doesn’t sound as if he expects to be back, though he hopes to
return after six seasons in Tennessee.

“Coach Munchak is building something really special around here,” Finnegan
said. “He plans to talk to everyone. We’ll see what the future holds.”

Munchak said the salary cap will decide how many players they keep. He hopes
they keep as many as possible in free agency along with another crop of rookies
to go with a promising draft class where three started on defense.

“You got a nice little core here, so I think it’s something we can build
on,” Munchak said. “I think that’s part of the excitement of selling to the
guys that are in this room is that yeah, 9-7 was OK. It wasn’t quite good enough
this year, but a lot of good things happened at 9-7 that we’re excited about as
an organization, as a team and that we can build on.”

The Titans finished the season beating the Houston Texans 23-22, missing out
on their first playoff berth since 2008 when the Jets lost to Miami and Denver
lost to Kansas City. That left Tennessee tied with Cincinnati but losing the
head-to-head tiebreaker due to a Nov. 6 loss to the Bengals where the Titans
blew a 10-point lead in losing 24-17.

“Hopefully the lesson we learned is you can’t hope that someone else can do
your job for you,” Munchak said. “We had to earn our way in, and we didn’t.”

Tennessee also lost its opener 16-14 in Jacksonville and became the first
team to lose to the previously winless Colts 27-13 on Dec. 18 when a win would
have put the Titans into the AFC’s sixth and final playoff spot.

At least Munchak has his quarterbacks in veteran Matt Hasselbeck and Jake
Locker going into a full offseason to push for the starting job. Hasselbeck
started all 16 games and became the first quarterback for this franchise not
named Warren Moon to throw for at least 3,500 yards. He finished with 3,571
yards passing with 18 touchdown passes and 14 interceptions. Locker threw for
four TDs with a 99.4 passer rating coming off the bench in five games.

Munchak said the quarterbacks will compete again with the player who should
start being an obvious decision when the time comes.

He plans on keeping his coordinators, giving Chris Palmer to work on an
offense that ranked 17th in the NFL in passing even though top receiver Kenny
Britt tore his right ACL in September.

The biggest focus will be on a run game that ranked 31st in the league
averaging a measly 89.9 yards.

Chris Johnson ran for a career-low 1,047 yards after missing the preseason
before getting his new contract extension. He has plenty of incentives in that
deal to spend plenty of time working in the Titans’ offseason program, and he
said the Titans simply need to improve their execution.

A full offseason will help Jerry Gray’s defense too.

“We were limited in what we could do because guys were learning it on the
run,” Finnegan said. “That’d be huge for this defense.”

A fourth rookie, Karl Klug, led Tennessee with seven sacks, and the Titans
ranked eighth in the NFL in points allowed per game. But Tennessee still must
find a way to tighten up a run defense gashed for big runs far too often,
leading to a No. 24 ranking giving up 128.3 yards per game.

Notes: The Titans will pick 20th in April’s draft. … The Titans’ 2012 home
schedule features visits from Houston, the Colts and Jaguars in the AFC South
along with the Patriots, the Jets, the Steelers, Chicago and Detroit. Tennessee
will visit its AFC South divisional rivals along with trips to Minnesota, Green
Bay, Miami, San Diego and Buffalo after finishing second in the division.