Lane Kiffin’s return to Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium as Alabama’s offensive coordinator was one of the most anticipated events of the 2016 football season.

The reunion between the former Volunteers head coach and the fanbase that infamously rioted upon his unexpected exit came and went without major incident. Kiffin, however, recently revealed that security was so concerned for his safety that they asked him to coach the game in a bulletproof vest. He shared the story of his memorable gameday in Knoxville on “”Marty Smith’s America: The Podcast.”

“It’s crazy. They were literally talking about like — from the bus in — a bulletproof vest,” Kiffin recalls. “I’m like, ‘Come on, guys. This is football.’ They said, ‘No, really.’ They had security with me the whole way, even walking on the field and stuff like that. I’m just like ‘I’m not wearing a vest, guys. All right?’ That’s a little bit over the top. It was all in fun. There was a lot of mean words said — four-letter words. That speaks of Tennessee’s fans, just how passionate they are. I think Phillip Fulmer said it the other day, ‘We have the most passionate fans in the country.'”

While the bad blood is understandable, thankfully the passion of the Vols faithful did not lead to any violence and only “four-letter words.” Roughly a year later, there were Tennessee fans advocating on social media for the return of Kiffin as UT’s head coach. Talk about the difference a year makes.

It will be interesting to see if Kiffin ever returns to the sidelines as the visitor at Alabama, USC or Tennessee (again) while coaching at FAU or anywhere else.

[H/T CBS Sports]