Larry Porter is returning to a familiar program where he’ll reunite with a former boss.

North Carolina announced the hiring of the former Auburn assistant on Friday. Porter was at North Carolina from 2014-16 before arriving on The Plains in 2017. For four seasons (2017-20) at Auburn, Porter served as tight ends and H-backs coach. For the past three seasons, he was also the Tigers’ special teams coordinator.

Porter’s return to Chapel Hill reunites him with Mack Brown. Porter was on Brown’s Texas staff in 2013.

“My family and I are thrilled to be heading back to North Carolina,” Porter said via a North Carolina release. “We want to thank Coach Brown, the administration, and the staff for giving us the opportunity to return to what we know is a special place. We had some success when I was in Chapel Hill last time, and you can see that the program is trending in the right direction. I’m excited to help continue that momentum and hope to be an asset moving forward. We can’t wait to get there and get going.”

Porter will serve on Brown’s staff as running backs coach.

“We’re so excited to reunite with Larry, his wife Sharmane, and their children, Brandon, Omari and Olivia,” Brown said in the school announcement. “Larry checks a number of boxes that make him a perfect fit for this role. He has history at Carolina so he understands the place. He’ll be able to hit the ground running in recruiting because of his familiarity, and he brings a wealth of on-field coaching experience that will be valuable to the program. We have a talented group of running backs on our roster and we expect Larry will bring out the best in them. We’re looking forward to having Larry and his family return to Chapel Hill.”

Porter was not retained by new Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin.