Texas assistant coach Sydney Carter flexes SEC championship trophy with new diamond-studded rings

Texas Longhorns basketball assistant coach and director of player development, Sydney Carter, has become renowned for her stylish game day outfits. The former Texas A&M Aggies alum has accumulated 1.5 million followers on Instagram with her fashion-forward manner.

On Tuesday, she posted a picture on her Instagram story of the various rings won throughout her career. Included was the SEC regular season championship ring that the Longhorns shared with the South Carolina Gamecocks after finishing with identical 15-1 records last season.

"Adding 2 more to my collection," Sydney Carter wrote.

Sydney Carter helped guide the Longhorns to the SEC Tournament championship game, where they lost to the Gamecocks, and the Final Four of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, where they again lost to South Carolina.

When Sydney Carter had to defend her outfit choices

As the assistant coach of Texas A&M in 2022, Sydney Carter wore pink leather pants during the Aggies' February 6 game against the Kentucky Wildcats in a nod to breast cancer awareness month.

Her outfit received mixed reviews from fans, and the coach had to defend her outfit choices during an interview with "Yahoo Life."

“I just think that people are uncomfortable with a Black woman being in a power position,” Carter said. “When you see a Black woman who is actually confident and embracing herself, I think that that’s very intimidating. I’m still getting my job done at the end of the day, and not once have I been hindered in wearing high heels or leather pants or just if I wanted to wear denim on the bench.

"I’m not the first person to wear heels on the bench nor leather pants, and nor will I be the last. I can’t leave my curves at home at the end of the day. I have to be authentically myself every day because it’s all I have. I feel like it was my time to lead [the conversation] in the form of not just being a Black woman, not just being a curvy woman, but I am a woman in a male-dominated profession."

Since the wave of criticism she received after that fateful game against Kentucky, Carter made the switch to the Texas Longhorns and has received plaudits for her game day outfits.

About the author

Cabral Opiyo is a journalist who covers college sports at Sportskeeda. With work experience spanning over 10 years, Cabral is an avid follower of college football and basketball and what goes into making the perfect elite prospect. He brings the news as it happens and analyzes football games to a high degree of accuracy.

As a writer, he loves bringing to life historical and iconic moments with his writing, fueled by extensive and verifiable research, creating an image in the reader's eyes.

Cabral has been known to sneak away from a high-profile NBA game to catch an obscure college basketball game and is an avid re-watcher of Tim Duncan and San Antonio Spurs games from the 2000s.

UConn winning its first national title under Dan Hurley remains his best college sports moment. Cabral rates A'ja Wilson and Caitlin Clark as his favorite players due to their productivity and the Alabama Crimson Tide as his favorite college team.

In addition, Cabral follows football and is a huge Italian and Brazilian football fan. He has written about football for a decade and held a byline with Outside of the Boot Football.

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Edited by Dipayan Moitra