AP

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh haven’t seemed to like each other, going back to the time when Carroll asked Harbaugh, “What’s your deal?” after Harbaugh’s Stanford team ran up the score on Carroll’s USC team in 2009. But Carroll says he has respect for Harbaugh.

A reporter asked Carroll Thursday what’s the deal with his relationship with Harbaugh.

“What’s the deal, huh?” Carroll said. “We have not been friends over the years. We don’t know each other very well. It’s a very, very confined relationship in that regard. For whatever reason, you guys have had a field day with thinking that it’s something other than it is. I have great respect for what Jim’s done. I think he’s a tremendous football coach. So that’s it. That’s where it stops and starts. All the rest of this stuff, you guys have had a blast with it. But there’s nothing there, you know?”

The post-game handshake between Carroll and Harbaugh on Sunday probably won’t include another “What’s your deal?” moment. But it won’t be a warm embrace between two friends, either.