In college sports, head coaches seem to pounce on schools dangling large paydays faster than anyone can blink.

Coaches parade around selling their program until another school offers more money and then they leave unscathed. But universities and athletes suffer from the departures. It doesn’t make any sense how people are content with it. Fans and schools most certainly don’t act that way when their beloved coach bolts for another program.

Most recently, former Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema, who has led the Badgers to three consecutive Big Ten championships and just as many Rose Bowls, put Madison in his rearview mirror to accept the same position at Arkansas.

As has been mentioned in many stories regarding the move, Bielema was born in Illinois, rooted for the Illini, walked on at Iowa and spent 16 years coaching at both Iowa and Wisconsin — the last seven years as the Badgers’ head coach.

Bielema had a pedigree embedded with years of fandom and work experience in the conference.

His departure adds to the annual postseason coaching circus that stems from the constant money grab in college sports that has become more prevalent with each passing season.

Bielema joined former Northern Illinois head coach Dave Doeren as coaches that departed their employers shortly after their teams captured their respective conference championships. Doeren left for N.C. State less than a day after his Huskies won their second consecutive MAC championship and won’t coach them in their rare Orange Bowl appearance.

Now the Badgers and Huskies are without the guidance of the men that helped build the foundation that has these two teams competing in the biggest games of their seasons.

Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long offered Bielema a reported $3.2 million annually for six years, about a $600,000-per-year raise from his salary at Wisconsin.

The only compensation Wisconsin received from Arkansas for losing Bielema for the Rose Bowl Game was his $1 million buyout.

As for Northern Illinois, the team has since replaced Doeren with offensive line coach Rod Carey. And N.C. State paid NIU $750,000 to buy Doeren out of his contract.

Players don’t have the same luxury as coaches to leave one program and participate in another right away, except in rare instances such as the sanctions doled out after the Penn State scandal or if the NCAA deemed the reason for transferring reasonable like it did for wide receiver Kyle Prater, who relocated to Northwestern to be closer to his family.

In some cases, schools restrict the places that a player can transfer to on top of having to sit out a year.

Recently, Wisconsin men’s basketball head coach Bo Ryan included teams in the Big Ten, the Atlantic Coast Conference and Marquette, Iowa State and Florida on a list of schools freshman Jarrod Uthoff couldn’t transfer to.

When asked why a player shouldn’t be allowed to attend a school of his choice when a coach can, Ryan told ESPN.com, “There are rules of a scholarship,” he said. “I didn’t make them up.”

What made it a more problematic situation was that Uthoff desired to transfer to Iowa, a school that is about 30 minutes away from his hometown of Ceder Radpids, Iowa. The list was cut down eventually, but Ryan still included Big Ten universities on the restriction list, as transferring within the conference is almost never permitted.

Uthoff still transferred to Iowa and even paid his own way this season just so he could transfer even though he has to sit out one year.

One notable instance of a coach relocating within the conference is when Tubby Smith left Georgia to coach SEC foe Kentucky. When ESPN mentioned that Smith did something similar, Ryan mentioned how professional contracts have buyouts and penalties.

I don’t think Southern Cal was too happy with Pete Carroll when he left the program, amid an NCAA investigation of the program he restored to glory, for the Seattle Seahawks.

All the Trojans received was a care package full of sanctions from the NCAA regarding benefits given to former USC standout Reggie Bush while Carroll was at the helm, while Carroll sits on his perch in The Emerald City rich and carefree. 

Los Angeles’ “pro” team still hasn’t recovered from the sanctions, as Carroll faced no damages or penalties in Seattle.

No matter what the circumstance, it always seems like head coaches typically gets off scot-free, but athletes and universities pay the price for the coaches’ actions.

Bielema and Doeren definitely saw the opportunity for a higher salary and better facilities as too good to pass up. If a buyout is all that’s required for a coach to abandon a university and number of athletes preparing for a bowl game, then so be it.

But why must the universities that employ these coaches and get the players to commit to and play for have to be subject to more restrictive policies when the coaches experience no repercussions?

I don’t know what the solution is, or if there even is one, but the system is far too favorable for college coaches.

Dan is a senior in Media. You can reach him at [email protected]. Follow him @WELINandDEALIN.