[Exclusive] Coach Sydney Carter Talks Pink Pants Criticism, WNBA

Source: Monica Schipper / Getty

For Black Women’s History Month, we’re highlighting Magic Makers who are leaving indelible marks in entrepreneurship, sports, and entertainment, and we think Coach Sydney Carter is a perfect fit.

The stylish Assistant Coach and Director of Player Development at the University of Texas has a storied career that includes playing overseas in the WNBA, being an NCAA champion, and Assistant Coaching at Texas A&M.

Now a proud Longhorn, she’s making waves not just for her stellar work but for her head-turning style.

Back in 2022, a picture of the coach during a breast cancer awareness game night went viral after people made disparaging remarks about her pastel pink pants, turtle neck, and heels that they deemed “unprofessional” and “distracting.”

Some even suggested that she should be fined over the outfit.

After racking up thousands of views on social media, the fashionista fired back and shook off the shade, telling GMA’s Deborah Roberts that she stood by her decision to honor her flair for fashion.

“I just know at the end of the day, I’m a Black woman and I can’t hide that,” said Carter. “Nor can I hide the fact that I look the way that I look in those pink pants, in particular. So I’m not going to try to do that to make someone else feel comfortable, because it’s what I feel comfortable in.”

Coach Carter recently echoed a similar sentiment to BOSSIP and said she was initially befuddled by the negative chatter but took the positive route and ignored the detractors.

Source: Phillip Faraone / Getty

“Initially, I was like, ‘Well, what’s distracting?! Because you can see my toenails and my nails? ‘Cause that’s the only thing that was out,” Carter told Managing Editor Dani Canada. “And so I immediately went into positive mode. I was just like, ‘You know what? I’m not paying attention to this.’ I’m legitimately not bothering anybody, I’ve always worn clothes to every game. This is probably one of the most simple outfits I’ve worn and I’m completely covered.

“So at this point, it’s clear that people are just offended by the fact that I’m curvy and I have the audacity, I guess, to show up with something that I can’t get rid of,” she added. “That’s all that was at the end of the day. People were just like, ‘How dare she stand with that much confidence and be on national TV or post this!’”

Truly centered in her feminism and authenticity, Carter added that this type of descension is something she’s dealt with as a curvy woman working in sports.

“The players come out in their tunnel fits and it’s cool for them, so why can’t I dress up for the office and the arena that I coach in?” said Carter. “It’s cool for men to wear designer [outfits] for games but with women, we got to please everybody all the time. Me dressing up or dressing down does not diminish the fact that  I still look like a woman. No one’s attacking men when they’re wearing their tuxedos or they’re wearing quarter zips and pants. They’re attacking women who are dressed up and just happen to be curvy.”

The athlete who’s loved the game of basketball since she was a toddler told BOSSIP that her love for fashion bloomed when she spruced up her school uniforms as a child by wearing her mother’s shoes. Now her eye for detail down to extravagant nail art is something she’s proud to showcase, detractors be damned.

“I was dressing up for games before that pink panks situation even happened,” said Carter. “Nobody was coming to games and I was still getting dressed for games. And so, you know, it was just a thing. I always want to put my best foot forward, I don’t feel like I want to go to a game and wear sweats or leggings and a quarter zip, that’s just not how I envision myself as a coach.

“I worked for a guy that believed in that, he was old school so he believed in dressing up,” she added. “He came up in that time where they were wearing tuxes to games and then everyone was dressing up. So I was just very fortunate that I worked for somebody that was like minded.”

Coach Sydney Carter Talks WNBA Player Salaries

Elsewhere in the interview, Coach Carter also spoke candidly about the low pay rate for WNBA players. As previously reported social media was shocked to see that Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese would be making $73,439 and $76,535 respectively in their first year in the league.

According to the coach selected in the third round of the 2012 WNBA draft by the Chicago Sky, the same team that recruited Reese, it’s unsurprising considering the disparity in support of men’s basketball versus women’s.

“I think in so many different areas other than just sports, women just always having to do more with less,” she told BOSSIP. “I’m not sure why, but I think the argument with a lot of other people is our game is not fun enough. A lot of people don’t want to come support and see women play basketball; okay well what do you want to see women do? What’s going to satisfy you? But we’re not interested in asking that question because at the end of the day we’re good basketball players.

“We know that we are good, we know that our game is fun. We know we pour it in to being good at our sport just like women do all over the country in whatever they’re doing, we pour everything into being good at this. I really can’t answer why we’re underpaid, but hopefully that changes because we deserve more,” she added.

Coach Sydney Carter Defines Black Girl Magic As Authenticity In One’s Self

Before wrapping up her interview with BOSSIP, this Black Women’s History Month Magic Maker gave us her definition of #BlackGirlMagic.

I think Black girl magic is just walking in your own power and confidence,” said the stylish stunner. “You know, like embracing your blackness, embracing your womanliness, and embracing everything about you and your uniqueness. The magic is you. You’re the only person that can be yo, so that is your magic. That is your superpower,” she added.

“So live in that truth every day and you can’t worry about if you’re pleasing everybody or if everybody’s happy with this decision that you make. Just be strong and confident in everything that you do. To me, that’s the magic. You are the magic. “

We couldn’t agree more, coach!

Watch out exclusive with Coach Sydney Carter at the top of this post!