Basketball coach Sydney Carter defended her choice to wear pink leather pants during a game after facing criticism for her outfit

• A Texas basketball coach defended herself after being criticized for the outfit she wore at a game.
• Sydney Carter, an A&M Texas coach, shared photos of herself in pink leather pants on February 7.

College basketball coach and former Women's National Basketball Association player Sydney Carter has pushed back against critics who questioned her game-day attire, according to Yahoo Life.

In an interview with Yahoo Life's Kerry Justich published on Tuesday, Carter, 31, a player development coach and assistant recruiting coordinator on Texas A&M's women's basketball team, said she received criticism for the outfit she posted to Instagram on February 7. The picture, taken during her team's game against the University of Kentucky, has over 67,000 likes at the time of reporting.

In the photo, Carter is wearing pink leather pants with a white turtleneck, clear heels, a pink breast cancer awareness pin, and a red face mask. According to Yahoo Life, Carter's picture was shared widely across social media sites and she promptly received responses from people who disagreed with her outfit choice.

A post shared by Sydney Carter (@sydcarter4)

The coach told the publication that she believes this criticism was due to people's discomfort with Black women in senior positions within sports. "I just think that people are uncomfortable with a Black woman being in a power position," she said.

"When you see a Black woman who is actually confident and embracing herself, I think that that's very intimidating," she said. Carter added that she regularly posts pictures of her game-day outfits online after games, and went on to discuss what she described as the unfair response to women in the male-dominated sports industry.

"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," she said.

Carter previously defended her outfit in an Instagram post on Saturday, and thanked those who have supported her or offered her "kind words."

A post shared by Sydney Carter (@sydcarter4)

"Representation matters," she wrote. "As a Black woman in coaching, I take pride in showing that people who look like me don't have to diminish our light to appeal to others, whose opinions never mattered anyway."

She added that she will "continue to unapologetically be myself, apply pressure, and show that Black women can express our individuality while doing our jobs at a high level."

On Friday, Texas A&M official women's basketball team shared a picture of Carter on Instagram with a caption of support. "Let them talk. We got your back," the caption read.

Representatives for Sydney Carter and Texas A&M Women's Basketball did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.