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Lane Kiffin's mother fears for his safety Saturday at Tennessee

Lane Kiffin's mother fears for his safety Saturday at Tennessee

Robin Kiffin, the mother of Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin, is not looking forward to his return to Knoxville, Tenn., on Saturday.

Alabama visits Tennessee, and it's Kiffin's first game back in Knoxville since he left after one year to become USC's coach before the 2010 season.

"I'm scared to death for his safety," his mother, Robin Kiffin, told CBS Sports. "Some people were visiting us last weekend from Tennessee and they said they better not let him on the sideline, they should put him in the press box. I want him to be in the press box."

Kiffin's three kids will not be going to the game.

Kiffin has been coaching this season at Alabama from the sideline and will be there on Saturday. When asked about Kiffin being on the sideline during Wednesday's SEC teleconference, Alabama coach Nick Saban said he wasn't worried about it, though he did seem exasperated about the questions.

"Yeah," Saban said. "I mean, why not? We're going to play our game and do what we feel like we need to do to give our players the best chance to be successful. That's the decision that we made early in the season, before the season started, actually, that would help our offensive team and our quarterback. I don't understand why it would be any different in this game."

Before that comment, Saban asked a reporter why he used the word "really" in asking if Kiffin was really apprehensive about returning to Knoxville.

"Why would you say 'really'? I haven't really heard much about it," Saban said. "I think the most important thing for us is we need to focus on the game. The game is not about that. The game is about the players and regardless of what fans think or what fans do, I think our coaches and our players need to focus on what we're going to do in the game and how we're going to help ours play their best."

Kiffin signed a six-year contract at the school but left following a 7-6 season. Pete Carroll had left USC to coach the Seattle Seahawks, and Kiffin decided to go back to the school where he was co-offensive coordinator. Few Tennessee fans have forgiven him for leaving so quickly.

"I know that Tennessee fans have some really hard feelings," former Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton told CBS. "Tennessee is a storied program, so to have someone sort of walk out on them, even given it was for his dream job and the way that whole year went down, there's not going to be any love shared. But I also believe Tennessee fans are smart enough that they don't want any kind of scar on who they are by going overboard in the reaction to it. And I say that not even knowing what overboard means."

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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!