Columnist Kent Somers writes that the Coyotes made the right decision on Mitchell Miller.

When admitting a mistake, it’s better to do it sooner rather than later.

So, kudos to the Coyotes, who announced Thursday they were renouncing the rights to Mitchell Miller, their top pick in the draft earlier this month.

The Coyotes stuck by Miller at first, saying they knew about him bullying and racially taunting a classmate four years ago when both were 14 years old.

For the next few weeks, the Coyotes said they had done their homework on Miller and thought they could help him grow into a productive person. And a good hockey player.

But this week, it became clear the Coyotes should have put more time into their homework.

Reporters for The Arizona Republic contacted the victim and his family, who said Miller had shown no remorse for his actions.

The story prompted an onslaught of criticism, including from me, who pointed out that a franchise that’s already made a litany of mistakes in 2020 could ill afford an

other one.

The Coyotes renounced Miller’s rights after “it learned more about the entire matter,” President and CEO Xavier Gutierrez said in a statement released on Thursday. “What we learned does not align with the core values and vision for our organization and leads to our decision to renounce our draft rights.”

It’s possible that turnover in the Coyotes front office led to Miller being drafted. General Manager Bill Armstrong didn’t manage the draft per an agreement with his former employer, the St. Louis Blues.

In the team’s press release Thursday, Armstrong called it a unique situation. “We need to do the right thing as an organization and not just as a hockey team.”

The downside to the decision? It leaves the Coyotes without a pick in the first four rounds of the draft. The Coyotes traded their first and third-round picks, and the NHL took away their second-round pick for violating scouting rules.

And had the Coyotes not taken Miller, he might well have gone to another team. But at least the Coyotes didn’t compound their mistake by continuing to deny they made one.