When Steve Kerr visited Seahawks training camp last summer, the Golden State Warriors head coach and five-time NBA champion said he was "more nervous" than at any point in his career as a professional basketball player.
That's because Seattle head coach Pete Carroll had summoned Kerr to the front of a team meeting, pitting the former NBA guard against then-Seahawks wide receiver Bryan Walters in a competitive hoops shootout. Walters bested the Warriors' coach, nailing six shots in half a minute to Kerr's four.
"It was so cool to be amongst the Seahawks with coach Carroll calling me up," Kerr said at the time. "It was almost surreal. But I was actually nervous. It was actually fun."
Kerr, on site to take in Carroll's coaching philosophy following the team's Super Bowl XLVIII win over the Denver Broncos, would carry the Seahawks' relaxed yet efficient atmosphere to Golden State in his first year as head coach.
"The reason I went up there is because I want my team to play like the Seahawks," Kerr said in a recent interview with ESPN. "They're fast and loose and disciplined all at once. I wanted to know how you achieve that."
Kerr's team, led by league MVP Stephen Curry, went on to earn the NBA's best record (67-15). Earlier this week, his Warriors won the NBA title with a 4-2 NBA Finals series win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, the franchise's first championship in 40 years.
With the Warriors sealing the series on the road, the team had a bit of fun on its plane ride back to the Bay Area. That's when coach Kerr, clutching the NBA Championship trophy, was spotted sporting a Seahawks t-shirt underneath his jacket, which you can see for yourself in the photo embedded above.
"As a young coach I just like to see people at work," Kerr said last year of his visit with coach Carroll. "And Pete obviously is one of the best. He's one of the most intriguing people that I've met and that I've sort of watched over the years as a football fan.
"I'm thankful that he gave me the opportunity to come visit with him."
And to add to Kerr's Pacific-Northwest ties, the book he appears to be reading while rocking the Seahawks shirt is entitled The Boys in the Boat, a book about the University of Washington's crew team and their quest for gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
