"Knight needs to admit wrongdoings

I was going to write about something else tonight. Maybe the no-acting-emotional rule in the NBA.

But then Texas Tech basketball coach Bob Knight (ever heard of him?) got a bit too emotional in a huge non-conference game against Gardner-Webb Monday night.

With his right hand.

I'm sure you've heard the story, so I'll spare you the summary, except to say that he slapped Michael Prince, one of his players.

Anyone who says Knight "lifted Michael's chin up," as Texas Tech athletic director Gerald Myers claimed, hasn't seen the video.

And anyone who's seen the video also saw the painful expression on Prince's face as he sat on the bench post-slap.

Which is not to say Prince needs medical attention. But, c'mon folks, a slap is a slap. Just like Bob Knight will always be Bob Knight.

No college basketball fan will ever forget when Knight threw a chair across the floor in a 1985 game against Purdue. Or when video proved that Knight choked his former player Neil Reid in 1997, which helped lead to his firing from Indiana in 2000.

It would take me a full night to list all of Knight's outbursts, both on and off the court.

Let's just say he doesn't get along well with reporters, isn't a big fan of cheerleaders (even those of his own team) and doesn't stand down to anybody.

But those things don't bother me nearly as much as the fact that Knight never admits he's wrong.

That's his biggest vice.

Bob Knight is a phenomenal coach, one of the all-time greats. He will break Dean Smith's record this season for the most wins in Division I. He is the last coach to lead his team to an undefeated season (1976) and he has three national titles.

But he has faults, gosh darn it. Just like everyone else.

And because he's constantly in the spotlight, his faults are magnified - as would be the case with any coach at a high-profile school.

Seventy-nine percent of voters on espn.com said Knight's slap of Prince wouldn't have been a big deal if another coach committed the act.

I disagree. It might have raised an even greater uproar. Because it was Knight, it will wash over in a couple days and just be added to his list of transgressions. If Coach K had slapped a player, we'd be talking about it for weeks, questioning his character.

Back to Knight's mistakes. Some are more obvious than others. This is one of the less transparent mistakes he's made as a coach. In fact, a great deal of the public seems to think he did nothing wrong.

And, more importantly, Prince wasn't fazed by the slap - at least after the game. Also, his parents thought it was the right thing to do (Prince was hanging his head and needed that chin lifted up).

Now I'm not going to blow this incident out of proportion, because in reality it was pretty minor - especially when compared to Knight's past histrionics.

But the guy needs to admit his wrongdoings, and this was one of them. He needs to simply keep his hands off his players.

Even after video evidence showed Knight choking Reid in '97, Knight denied committing the act. Of several situations involving Knight since the mid-70s where he was in the wrong, only once has he apologized for his action.

That was three years ago, after he went on a profanity-laden tirade in an ESPN interview when asked about his relationship with former Indiana player and Iowa coach Steve Alford - who was sitting next to Knight.

Obviously Knight has mellowed over the years. But he still won't admit when he's wrong.

And until he does - which is very unlikely - all those reasons he cites for his actions add up to nothing more than a slap to the face.