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Rutgers assistant coach Jimmy Martelli resigned from his position with the Scarlet Knights men's basketball team, effective Wednesday.

(Saed Hindash/The Star-Ledger)

ATLANTA — On the same day Rutgers terminated the contract of his boss, Mike Rice, Scarlet Knights assistant men's basketball coach Jimmy Martelli resigned from the program, according to a spokesman in the school's sports information department.

Attempts to reach Martelli were unsuccessful, but he released a statement to the Associated Press:

“I am sickened that as an assistant coach I contributed in any way to an unacceptable culture. Wednesday I resigned from Rutgers and I hope that coaches on all levels will learn something important from these events," Martelli said. "For my actions, I am deeply sorry and I apologize to the players from the bottom of my heart.”

In the wake of Rice's firing Wednesday because of the revelations of verbal and physical abuse over a two-year period from practice tapes thrust into the public spotlight, the Scarlet Knights men's basketball program has been thoroughly scrutinized. The 40-minute tape — which was made public in small portions by ESPN's "Outside the Lines" program earlier this week — contained a number of instances of Rice crossing the line in practice.

On a portion of the full tape that did not make airwaves, Martelli was seen shoving an unidentified player twice during a practice.

During an impromptu meeting with the media on Tuesday, following the airing of the full tape, Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti said that Martelli's involvement had been addressed.

"Jimmy was spoken to about the matter," Pernetti said earlier this week. "We dealt with that. Certainly the tape focused on Mike, but it brought some other things to light that we dealt with at the same time that we dealt with Mike."

Martelli, the son of longtime Saint Joseph's head coach Phil Martelli, came to Rutgers when Rice was hired from Robert Morris in May 2010.

He was a part of Rice's staff with the Colonials for three seasons from 2007-08 until leaving for the Scarlet Knights program in 2010. He was the first hire that Rice made when he officially arrived on campus.