Auburn Tigers football coach Bryan Harsin reacts to offseason controversy

The future, or lack thereof, of Bryan Harsin with the Auburn football program was one of the hot-button issues of the college football offseason. When the dust settled, Auburn decided to keep Harsin, and now he wants to talk about what happened.

"Personally, one of the more difficult times that my family and I have ever been through, really," Harsin told Next Round Live.

"Just so many things that played out on social media, some of the attacks, the information that were baseless and kind of dealing with that is something that we've never been through."

Life in the SEC has been tumultuous from the start for Harsin. His tenure at Auburn began despite the protest of some football boosters who wanted the school to sign former defensive coordinator Kevin Steele as head coach over Harsin.

Auburn then went 6-7, winning just three SEC games, and ending on a five-game losing skid, including to unranked South Carolina, to Alabama, and No. 20 Houston in the Birmingham Bowl.

Then came an offseason of upheaval on the coaching staff (that actually began in-season), a wave of transfers (including quarterback Bo Nix), and public statements from former players complaining about Harsin's coaching methods.

RELATED: Bryan Harsin timeline at Auburn: How we got here

That resulted in Auburn launching an investigation into those claims, but ultimately deciding to retain the coach.

There were also anonymous social media posts which made allegations against Harsin in his personal life, none of which were reported by reputable media organizations.

"Just some of the things my family and I went through, just went too far at the end of the day," Harsin said.

"When it was all said and done, it still has left some scars and things that we're dealing with, and one thing I'll say about my family is that they're awesome. They are very tough. This was something for us that we needed to go through and so I'm really proud of them, proud of my wife. She's the rock star of the family."

Harsin said it's important for he and his family to move on from that talk.

"You know the truth, you know what's being said is false, but that's part of what social media brings," he said.

"Sometimes there's some positives to it. I talk to our players about it. There's a lot of stuff on there that's just like a sewer that you have to be careful of. And when this was over, the mob just moves on, they're on to their next victim."

As for Auburn, it's on to Harsin's second season as football coach.

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