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Larry Porter Lands on His Feet in Tempe

By Paul Myerberg   //   Feb 11, 2012

Larry Porter: not a head coach. On the other hand, Porter is one whale of an assistant, especially if put in a role that takes full advantage of his standing as one of the nation’s most decorated recruiters. Just as it takes a special sort of mentality to be a head coach, it takes a separate and unrelated mentality to dominate the recruiting trail in the way Porter did for years as an assistant in both the Big 12 and the SEC. And these talents don’t often intersect; after Porter and Rob Ianello crashed and burned at Memphis and Akron, respectively, there’s little chance that a downtrodden non-B.C.S. conference program takes another flier on an upper-echelon recruiter with no coordinator experience.

This will be Porter’s lot in life — on a professional basis, obviously — as he moves on from Memphis. Perhaps he can take some solace in the path Stan Parrish took from Kansas State, where he won two games from 1986-88, to Ball State, where he was promoted from within the staff in 2008 to be Brady Hoke’s successor.

Even if Porter’s a long shot to garner any future head coach consideration, it’s not surprising to see that he’ll land on his feet. Yesterday, Arizona State announced that Porter will be an assistant coach under Todd Graham; it’s a hire that closes out Graham’s debut staff with a splash.

Arizona State has yet to officially delegate what responsibilities Porter will hold, but it’s nearly certain that he’d be Graham’s running backs coach, such as he was under Les Miles at Oklahoma State and L.S.U. from 2002-9. It was at L.S.U., in 2007 and 2009, that Porter was recognized by Rivals.com as the national recruiter of the year.

It’s in that capacity that Porter has made his national reputation. But it’s only one aspect of Porter’s ability as an assistant coach, joining his history — both with the Cowboys and the Tigers — of getting the most from his running backs. It was Tatum Bell and Vernand Morency in Stillwater; Joseph Addai, Jacob Hester and others in Baton Rouge.

He’ll have a similarly gifted talent base to work with in Tempe: Cameron Marshall opted to return for his senior season rather than test the N.F.L. waters, giving the Sun Devils a returning 1,000-yard back for the first time since Ryan Torain’s senior season in 2007. Along with a healthy Deantre Lewis, Marshall gives A.S.U. one of the Pac-12’s best one-two backfield combinations.

But it’s clearly as a recruiter that Porter’s name stands out; while a strong position coach, Porter arrives in Tempe with such notoriety because of his performance on the recruiting trail as Les Miles’ chief assistant. For Arizona State, his hiring greatly decreases the likelihood that it again finishes in the second half of the Pac-12 in recruiting, such as the program did in February — though, to be fair, Graham had less than months to close our his first class.

One question that remains unanswered, and will remain so until Arizona State makes a full statement on coaching duties, is whether Porter will also be named Graham’s recruiting coordinator. It’s not quite the no-brainer: Porter may be a demon on the trail, but he’s never coached west of Oklahoma. And as long as Arizona State’s recruiting efforts remain centered on the West Coast, it may be wiser for the program to have another assistant — one more familiar with the area — delegate recruiting responsibilities.

It’s an interesting question, even if the answer is not of vital importance. For starters, Porter, regardless of whether he’s the coordinator, will drastically alter the way Arizona State does business on the trail. His win-or-go-home mentality will rub off on the rest of the staff; eventually, he’ll have as big a role in Arizona State’s future success as any one of Graham’s assistants. Porter opens new doors for the program.

What the move spells, for those with a recruiting bent, is that A.S.U. is about to makes its presence far more known in Texas and the western edge of SEC country. The Sun Devils already have their toes dipped in Texas; they’re about to jump into the mix with both feet. And the same can be said of Louisiana, where Porter retains enormous name recognition among the state’s high school coaches.

It’s due to be an interesting experiment: the nation’s best recruiter, albeit out of his geographical element, helping Arizona State reverse its recent slide and enter the Pac-12 race. If Todd Graham himself doesn’t scare the rest of the conference, Porter’s entrance into Tempe sends a message. The Sun Devils are coming to your city. They want your football recruits.

Tags: Arizona State, Cameron Marshall, Deantre Lewis, Larry Porter, Memphis, Recruiting, Todd Graham

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