Git submodule removal and replacement results in failures

Let's say I have a submodule set to directory "foo". If I remove this
submodule in 1 commit (git rm -f foo) and then in a 2nd commit after
that, physically commit those files, the next person that does a `git
submodule update --recursive` results in failure because it says it
can't overwrite files.

I'm guessing what happens here is that when the submodule is being
updated, it is not de-inited first, so the 2nd commit is trying to be
applied but the submodule files aren't removed first, so it thinks it
is going to replace unversioned files.

Is there a way to make the submodule files be removed during an
update, so that subsequent commits that may add files to replace the
submodule aren't overwriting unversioned files?

Thanks.