As a player, the former Wigan star represented GB four times, won two Challenge Cups, two Regal Trophies, Premiership and league championships, as well as two World Club Championships during the Lancashire side's domination of the late 1980s and 1990s.
As a coach he has enjoyed spells as assistant coach with Wigan and Huddersfield Giants, and as head coach of the Scotland rugby league team from 2001-2003.
He then joined the list of successful coaching converts to rugby union with a move to Sale Sharks in 2003 before joining the Warriors after their promotion to the Premiership in 2004.
Speaking at the club's conditioning and recovery base, David Lloyd Edinburgh, the newly appointed McGinty, said: "I'm delighted to have got the post and am really excited about what we can achieve.
"I think I'll bring a lot of knowledge, experience and enthusiasm. I know how defence structures work and I'm looking forward to applying those to the way we play here - there'll be some fine tweaks and some slight changes to the way we defend.
"As a club we need to look at how we've performed in the past and acknowledge that we need to improve.
"I was very proud to coach the Scotland rugby league team and it's a great honour for me to be appointed as Edinburgh defence coach."
Edinburgh Rugby head coach, Michael Bradley, said: "In Billy [McGinty] we have a quality defensive coach with a skill element to back that up.
"We had some very good candidates, some overseas and some local, but the telling aspect for us was that he has a lot of current experience in rugby union at the highest level.
"He comes from a league background in a game synonymous with defence, so he's lived all of his life in this area and that was a big positive for us.
"Importantly for us he has the knowledge but also the passion to carry us to the next level and deliver a strong defensive solution for us, while his personality will transfer very well into our coaching team with Tom [Smith] and myself, fulfilling an assistant role within that set-up."
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