It's difficult to run from your own past. No matter how far you try to get away, eventually that past will catch up with you.

If anybody should know this by now, it is Robert Montgomery Knight.

In a week where we should be focusing our attention on the biggest game of the college football season to date, Bobby Knight has managed to temporarily steal some the thunder from his alma mater.

Monday evening, Knight hit forward Michael Prince in the jaw as the sophomore came to the bench.

According to a statement released by Texas Tech athletic director Gerald Myers, Knight told Prince, "Hold your head up and don't worry about your mistakes. Just play the game."

Watching the footage, it is easy to see how someone might think it was Knight slapping Prince.

The reason why it's easy to think that? Because the coach involved is Bobby Knight.

If this was Jim Boeheim, or Mike Krzyzweski, or Jim Calhoun, I doubt that it would have exploded.

But it's Knight, and the perpetual question surrounding him isn't whether there will be another outburst, but rather when will he lose it again?

On some level it is sad. Knight is rapidly closing in on Dean Smith's record of 879 wins, needing only nine more wins to reach 880.

However, it's not going to be the wins that we will remember. Yes, we'll look at the three national titles at Indiana. We will definitely remember a national title if he could win one at Texas Tech University.

What we will easily recall, however, are the transgressions, which include (among others):

* The chair toss.

* Kicking the chair that Pat Knight (his son and current assistant) was sitting in during a game.

* Mock whipping Calbert Cheaney.

* Assaulting a police officer in Puerto Rico.

* Berating an NCAA volunteer at a 1995 press conference.

* The choking of Neil Reed.

* The firing from Indiana because of the altercation with the student.

Now, Knight does have to bear some responsibility for his behavior. It's hard to blame all of these things on other people, or the media blowing things out of proportion.

Does that happen? Of course it does. But it is hard to deny that the actions from the past influence the perception of the present.

Could Knight have gotten the player to look him in the eye without laying a hand on him? Of course he could have. There was no need to lay a hand on Prince. But, Knight didn't punch the kid in the face.

On some level, Knight treated Prince like he would his own son. I'm sure that when Pat was younger, he received a pop on the chin to look into his father's eyes.

Michael Prince and his parents have gone on the record to state that Coach Knight did nothing wrong on Monday night. If they're okay with what happened, then we all need to be okay with what happened. Again, it wasn't assault.

However, Knight also has to be aware that the spotlight will be on him more and more the closer he gets to 880. More attention, more scrutiny, and more rehashing of his past -- the good and bad -- will circulate the closer we get to the magic number.

Hopefully, the next time Knight is in the news, it's for passing Dean Smith and not for something else.