I would guess the man either does not know the tires are "directional" (and therefore made no effort to orient them correctly).....................or he presumed that the tread cleats (as he has them) would "bite and hold" better being in that direction.
By the way, the tread is "directional" on these types of tires only to permit the "engaged soil" to self clean from the tread cleats instead of packing in tighter (and creating an essentially smooth patch of contact at the soil).

Marineguy- you can put a few more a's in that waaaaay of yours. Yikes.