Arizona State football coach Todd Graham made his most high-profile staff addition on Friday, officially announcing former Memphis coach Larry Porter as an assistant.
Porter, 40, spent the last two seasons as head coach at Memphis but was fired this year after compiling an overall record of 3-21. At ASU, Porter will likely coach running backs, replacing former Division II Abilene Christian coach Chris Thomsen, who was hired in December but left less than a month later to coach offensive line at Texas Tech.
Porter has an impressive history as a running backs coach. He first held the role at Tennessee-Martin in 1998 before spending the next three seasons at Arkansas State. He then took the same job on Les Miles' staff at Oklahoma State in 2002 and would later follow Miles to Louisiana State, where he stayed until taking the Memphis job in 2010.
In 14 seasons in the college ranks, Porter has coached in seven bowl games, including LSU's 2008 national championship win over Ohio State. Twice named National Recruiter of the Year by Rivals.com, Porter also brings with him a reputation for landing big-time talent.
Should Porter take on role of running backs coach at Arizona State, he will have a number of highly regarded running backs to work with, including senior Cameron Marshall, redshirt sophomore Deantre Lewis, junior-college transfer Marion Grice and top incoming freshman D.J. Foster.
