Porter, the first African-American UofM football head coach, received a five-year contract worth $750,000 annually. This will be the first head coaching job for Porter.

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Known as a successful recruiter, Porter spent the past eight seasons under coach Les Miles, including the last five at LSU, where he served as assistant head coach and running backs coach. He said Sunday he will not remain with LSU as it prepares for its bowl game and instead begin recruiting for the UofM starting today.

He said his goal is to keep the top Memphis-area talent from leaving for the Southeastern Conference and other BCS leagues.

‘‘There are a lot of kids that really want to stay home,’’ Porter said. ‘‘I’ve basically identified about 10 guys, five of which I know have legitimate BCS, SEC offers, that are very, very open to coming to the University of Memphis. The other five … I know there’s a chance we can get them on visits.’’

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