Often times athletic directors and universities worry about firing a head football coach because it could damage recruiting.

If a coach assembles a talented class of prospective athletes, you’d rather not lose all that talent.

That’s the typical situation. It’s a little more unusual to see the scenario flipped the other way around — as in, a coach is losing recruits that committed to him because he’s still at the university.

That wouldn’t seem to make a lot of sense, but it may currently be the case at Tennessee.

Rivals national recruiting director Mike Farrell was asked on Twitter about whether Tennessee should “fire Butch [Jones] now, later or keep him if Vols win out?”

Here’s an excerpt from Farrell’s response in a recent Rivals.com piece.

Firing Butch Jones now would be helpful for recruiting, especially with the early signing period coming up. The longer the Vols’ brain trust waits, the more recruits will be confused and look around as Jones is viewed as a lame duck coach now anyhow. Tennessee should have moved on after the South Carolina loss and I am puzzled beyond belief that the trigger wasn’t pulled the day after the Alabama loss. What are the Vols gaining by keeping Jones in charge? He has to be a lame duck coach. If he’s not and they are considering keeping him if the team runs the table and finishes 8-4 overall, then the people in charge in Knoxville are willing to settle for mediocrity. That’s just my two cents.

To this point, rarely has anyone ever knocked Jones on his ability to recruit, but when it comes to development — if you ask many Tennessee fans — it’s been a different story.

Now, though, some apparently believe Jones is hurting the Vols’ program simply by being the head coach.

If that is indeed the case, it’s a problem.