Joining the Cheshire Phoenix summer revolution was an easy decision for Josh McGinn.

Ellesmere Port-based McGinn has become the seventh new signing for the Nix, who have named respected American John Coffino as head coach.

McGinn, 21, worked with the New Yorker at the Dankind Academy in Kenya, coaching basketball to the underprivileged before escalating violence in Nairobi forced him to return to the UK.

So McGinn didn’t need much thinking time when offered the chance to work with Coffino again and have a second crack at the British Basketball League (BBL).

“I spent a lot of time with him in Kenya and he’s different,” said McGinn when asked about Coffino.

“We were the two foreigners out there so we were together quite a bit, but then there were five bombs in two weeks so I had to come home.

“He knows what he wants and how he wants to do things, and that’s because his philosophies have been proven to work.

“He’s a really good guy and he’s very understanding. He’s coached all over the world and he’s going to be the best coach in the BBL, without doubt.”

McGinn, of Whitby, started out with Ellesmere Port Panthers with his dad Jim as coach before moving to Manchester Magic.

His impressive form earned him England U16 and U18 caps and a move to Italian club Cestistica Ascoli.

McGinn joined Mersey Tigers for the 2012-13 season and ended his debut BBL campaign with 7.3 points and 3.4 assists per game.

But financial problems forced the Tigers out of the competition and McGinn spent last season in the English Basketball League (EBL) with Leeds Carnegie.

“I was given a great opportunity when I was 19 with Mersey Tigers and I improved a lot and would have liked another go in the BBL,” said McGinn, a 5ft 11ins guard.

“But over the last two years I feel like I have learned so much and the average age in the BBL is between 23 and 28, and I’m still only 21.

“These are the pivotal years in my development and that can really determine how far I can go in this league.”

McGinn feels he has improved as a player and matured as a person since his last BBL campaign, and believes that experience will stand him in good stead with the Nix.

“It was the biggest learning curve of my career because there was a lot happening off the court with the Tigers,” he said. “But to be aged 19 and to be a starting guard in the BBL meant  I learned an awful lot about myself.”

McGinn arrives at the Northgate Arena having helped Leeds, who have now entered the BBL, win the EBL finals.

He demonstrated his determination to succeed when he broke his ankle in the quarter-finals but returned to the court less than a fortnight later.

“I refused to get a cast on it and gave myself a week off and managed to strap it up and play 30 minutes in the Final Fours,” said McGinn.

“I’d played so many games over the season that there was no way I was going to miss the finals.”