Coach is unafraid to champion political issues
Warriors’ Kerr has feelings about dignity and policy with roots in his family and professional experiences
The NBA world has descended upon New Orleans this weekend for the All-Star Game. Twenty-four players comprise the two rosters. Four of the weekend’s biggest names are Warriors: Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson.
But the team’s private jet brought along another of the league’s biggest newsmakers: Steve Kerr, the Western Conference coach, who has emerged as a leading voice on social issues during one of the most polarizing times in the country’s history.
Within the past year, Kerr has publicly addressed gun control, Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protest, medical marijuana, President Donald Trump’s rhetoric and most recently Trump’s travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries.
“We have a president who has no regard for compassion or empathy, in the most important leadership position in the world,” Kerr said in an exclusive interview this week. “The most important thing in being a leader — as a parent, a teacher, a coach — is dignity for the po-
sition you are in, empathy for others. You’re trying to help people. And it feels like we’re in a time where our leader is just ridiculing constantly — on Twitter, whether it’s making fun of a handicapped person, or tweeting about how horrible “Saturday Night Live” is, the failing New York Times, casting the media as the opposition.
“This is not leadership. And I think people realize that. It should not matter if you are a conservative or a liberal. It’s about leadership, it’s about compassion and dignity and character and treating people the right way. That’s leadership. It’s terrifying we have someone in office who espouses none of that.”
In a coaching profession that is traditionally all sports all the time — where consumers go to escape the real world and aligned fan bases have split political views — why is Kerr so willing to speak his mind on controversial topics? The answer is found in a perfect storm of factors: Kerr is with the right team in the right league and the right market. But mostly he is the right man.
“Coach Kerr has been through so much in his life personally,” said Durant. “He realizes, checks the pulse of our country and our world. He knows exactly what he’s talking about. He’s so informed and intelligent when it comes to topics, social issues. He gets it and a lot of coaches don’t.”
Kerr, 51, was born in Lebanon. He spent much of his childhood either in Los Angeles or traveling throughout the Middle East. His father, Malcolm, was a decorated academic who became the chairman of the Department of Political Sciences at UCLA and later the president of the American University of Beirut.
Kerr’s first memories of political conversations happened at the dinner table when he was 7. His parents would regularly discuss the 1972 presidential race between Richard Nixon and George McGovern. The Vietnam War was going on. The evening news was always on.
“We talked a lot about world politics,” Kerr said. “Late ’70s, I was 13, 14, started reading about stuff. That was a pretty important time — the peace process, Camp David, President Carter getting Begin and Sadat together.”
Malcolm Kerr was shot and killed in 1984 outside his campus office in Beirut in an act of terrorism. Steve Kerr was 18. The tragedy is at the root of his passion about gun control and more recently Trump’s travel ban, something he sees as a “shocking” and “horrible” idea.
“I would just say that as someone whose family member was a victim of terrorism, having lost my father, if we’re trying to combat terrorism by banishing people from coming to this country, it’s really going against what the principles of what our country’s about and creating fear,” Kerr said after a game in Portland two weeks ago. “If anything, we could be breeding anger and terror and so I’m completely against what’s happening.”
Kerr has developed a simple strategy: If he’s versed and he’s passionate and he’s asked about a subject, he’ll answer. If he’s not, he won’t. He doesn’t avoid controversies, but he tries not to seek them out. He has declined several recent invites from CNN and other political shows to be a panelist or tell his story.
“I think you should only say something if you’re comfortable saying it,” Kerr said. “There could be plenty of reasons why people would not be comfortable — whether it’s their personal beliefs. I know there are certain things I would never talk about because I don’t know about them.”
Much like his childhood, Kerr had a unique, informed NBA upbringing, playing under two of the league’s greatest, most outspoken coaches: Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich. Jackson used to gather his Chicago Bulls teams for open forums.
“I remember Phil one time asked our team: ‘How many of you own guns?’ ” Kerr said. “‘How many of you know that you’re more likely to have a death in your home with a gun than without a gun?’ ”
In Popovich, the coach of the San Antonio Spurs, Kerr found a mentor.
“He was in the military, went to the Air Force Academy, served his country,” Kerr said. “From a worldview, Russian major, studied Eastern Europe. Every time you go into his office, CNN is on, not SportsCenter.”
While playing under Popovich for the Spurs, Kerr caused his first public controversy. It came after the 9/11 attacks. Kerr opposed the Iraq War. “Being in Texas, it wasn’t the most popular stance,” he said.
There were several letters to the editor at the local paper calling him unpatriotic. Kerr held his ground.
“I think there’s a big difference in supporting the military and protesting the war,” Kerr said. “I don’t think those are mutually exclusive. If anything, people who protested that war were actually being much more patriotic than people who were fervently waving the flag without giving the war much thought. The damage that’s done, the lives that were lost, the families that were forever changed. People need to stop and think, while they’re waving the flag and chanting U-SA, is the war just?”
Kerr’s voice has grown stronger for reasons outside himself. One is job security.
As Ron Adams, his lead assistant coach, said: “When you start a new job, you don’t just come in and do that. But once you win a championship, people take notice.”
Then there’s the market and league — the Bay Area and NBA — which provide a left-leaning safe haven. Kerr has seen plenty of blowback for his comments but says the criticism has all been online. In person, he says, there has been only gratitude for speaking out.
“When I was in the NBA (as a player), there were plenty of conservatives in the locker room, usually having to do with just taxes,” Kerr said. “Fiscal conservatives. Which makes sense. Vote for one guy and you save a lot more money. So there were plenty of guys who voted Republican. Nowadays I think there are very few. But it’s almost 100 percent based on social justice. Whether it’s police killings that players can now look at on their phone or immigration laws that affect 100 foreign players in the league or the tone of racism that’s gone on in this recent campaign, you have a lot more guys who are not only leaning to the left, but much more willing to speak up.”
The Warriors have a few: Green, Andre Iguodala, David West, even Curry recently. Kerr has gathered the team for occasional open forums, but it’s mostly just personal conversations.
Recently, Kerr and West engaged in a discussion about Betsy DeVos’ nomination for the U.S. secretary of education.
“It’s refreshing, honestly, to have someone so engaged with what’s going on in our world, who knows that things going on outside this NBA bubble can clearly affect folks inside the bubble,” West said.
To Kerr, it’s just his way of life.
“What we’re seeing right now, there’s a lot of chaos, a lot of turmoil,” he said. “I think it’s important we don’t just sit back and idly let all these things happen.”