Texas A&M Women’s Basketball: How Sydney Carter shut down critics

With the football season in the rearview mirror, the Texas A&M women’s basketball team and men’s basketball team have not been providing adequate entertainment recently. The two teams have a combined 5-15 record in their last ten games.

But the women’s team has been in headlines for other reasons.

If you’re not familiar with what happened, I’d highly recommend reading this article about backlash that Sydney Carter, a coach on the women’s team, received for a pair of pink leather pants that she wore to a game. This is not abnormal for the Aggie assistant basketball coach, who always wears extravagant outfits on game day.

This Texas A&M women’s basketball coach did not (and should not) apologize for her outfit

If you’re all caught up, you’re familiar with the fact that a handful of sports fans were uncomfortable with Sydney Carter’s outfit during the Aggies’ contest against the Kentucky Wildcats. They were obviously in the wrong but complained nonetheless.

Carter was a three-year starter at Texas A&M, averaging over 10 points per game in each of her final two seasons. She would play four seasons in the NBA before returning to Texas A&M in a coaching role — the Aggie coach has earned her respect, though some want an outfit to overshadow this.

Thankfully, Carter stood her ground. Here’s are a couple of impactful quotes that she said to Yahoo! Sports in response to the backlash.

"“Women can never satisfy anybody in any aspect of life. Just as a woman, it’s hard enough. It’s hard enough that we’re not paid the same or that people think that we can’t do some of the same things or something as well as men in a male-dominated industry.”"

"“I’m unapologetically myself every day. And I could care less if anybody thinks that I’m being extra, I’m not gonna turn up turn my light off because somebody else is offended or intimidated by the fact that I embrace myself.”"

At the end of the day, this should not be something that women have to deal with in sports. If her self-expression is something that bothers you, you’re probably the one in the wrong.