COLAC basketball has claimed a major coup with dual national champion Keith Harrison signing to coach the city’s Country Basketball League team.

Harrison, 34, who won two South East Australian Basketball League national titles with the Geelong Supercats, will take the reins from former Colac Kookas co-coaches Matt Lucas and Justin Williamson.

Colac-bred Harrison said he was looking forward to giving back to the association where he began.

“The current Geelong coach Jamie O’Loughlin is pushing to help me take on an assistant coaching role with the Supercats, he thinks I’ve got that sort of potential, so I thought I’d have a go at being a head coach first and give something back to where I started,” he said.

“My brothers Francis and Mark are still involved in Colac basketball and they let me know Colac was looking for a coach so I thought I’d get involved.”

Harrison, the son of Colac’s Michael and Kaye Harrison, played junior basketball in Colac before competing in different leagues across Australia.

After starting out in the Country Victorian Invitational Basketball League, which is now the Big V, Harrison later joined SEABL teams Geelong and the North West Tasmanian Thunder, where he won a conference title.

Harrison returned to Geelong in 2005 to win three more SEABL conference titles and his first national championship in ‘06.

“After that I bought a business and was playing at the Big V level with Geelong’s senior side,” Harrison said.

“I returned to the Supercats in 2010, Jamie got me to come back and help with his program and we went on to win another conference and national title,” he said.

Harrison, who is likely to take on a playing role with Colac, said he hoped to pass on his knowledge and experience to the Kookas this season, with trials to start in August.