Former GW men’s basketball assistant coach Brian Ellerbe confirmed reports Thursday that he will be leaving Foggy Bottom for an assistant coaching position at DePaul University in Chicago.

Ellerbe will join ranks with the Blue Demons’ new head coach Oliver Purnell, who came to DePaul in early April after leading Clemson to three straight NCAA Tournament appearances. Ellerbe, who came to GW last July, said that the decision to leave GW was a difficult one.

“There are different factors that go in it for me personally. I’m from this area, so it would take a very, very strong effort to remove me from this area, one. Number two, it would take a very strong effort for me to leave GW because I was very, very comfortable and very, very content here with [men’s basketball head coach Karl Hobbs] and the other members of his staff,” Ellerbe said. “My family is from this area, my wife is from this area, so that was a big factor in terms of would I, you know, look to move.”

Ultimately, Ellerbe said, the lures of working for a longtime friend like Purnell combined with the opportunity to coach in the Big East Conference and help rebuild a struggling program at DePaul were too much for him to turn down.

“I think starting a new situation, from the ground up is exciting,” Ellerbe said. “Looking at a great new opportunity is pretty exciting, to go in and sort of rebuild a program that’s fallen on some hard times but has an unbelievable legacy,” he added.

Ellerbe pointed the financial benefits of working for a school in a larger conference and the opportunity to return to the Midwest as other appealing aspects of the DePaul job.

“There was a host of factors, and when I weighed them all out it was a tough call, but I ended up thinking it was best for me, my family and for my career to look into the situation,” he said.