Tonah Safranski Resigns as Fargo Davies Head Coach; She and Her Daughters Reflect on Tonah’s Coaching Tenure

TONAH, TAYLOR AND ASHTON SAFRANSKI REFLECT ON THE COACHING TENURE OF TONAH SAFRANSKI.

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR)–This past season for the Fargo Davies girls basketball program was special for a lot of reasons. On top of a state title, head coach Tonah Safranski announced her resignation last week.

“I think it’s super inspiring,” said Davies senior Ashton Safranski, who played for her mom the past four seasons. “Watching her at Fargo South and then also carrying it over to Davies… Just the way that she’s impacted so many players.”

Fargo Davies won the class AA state championship this past March. That game now marks a first for the program, and a last. It was the first girls basketball state championship, and the last time Tonah Safranski will walk the sidelines as head coach.

Tonah Safranski coached the Eagles program from its start back in 2010 through 2017, then returned to coach from 2020 through this past season. She says that decision to step down starts and ends with family.

“With both of my daughter’s going to be playing college basketball, it would be a challenge to try to juggle three schedules,” said Coach Safranski. “The amount of time and commitment that it takes to be a really good program, and also to watch two other teams play, was just not gonna work. I want to be able to see my kids play and I want the Davies program to continue to be successful. It made sense at this time.”

Throughout her second stint as head coach, Coach Safranski had the unique opportunity to coach both of her daughters. Taylor, who is now a sophomore at Concordia-Moorhead, and Ashton who is set to suit up for the MSUM Dragons next winter. Taylor gives her mom a lot of credit for preparing her for college basketball.

“She has brought us to the gym a ton,” said Taylor. “Even both of our parents, we have come on Saturday, Sundays, and both [Ashton and I] have worked out together and [Coach Safranski/mom] really pushed us to get to the best that we can and it has definitely paid off a lot. Both of us getting to play in college just shows how much she cares about our college careers and how much she wants us to achieve those goals.”

Ashton says the dynamic of her mom as her head coach was special.

“It was just a lot of fun,” said Ashton. “Getting to spend time with [my mom/coach] right after school and going home… just like always talking about basketball. It was a lot of fun to go through all that with each other.”

For Coach Safranski, getting to coach her kids is something she says was challenging but rewarding, all at the same time.

“[It was] pretty special to be able to do that,” said Coach Safranski. “You know, any coach that has ever coached their kids, I would say would say the same thing. I mean, it has its challenges, but it also is pretty special to be able to have that time with your kids and their friends and be able to have fun on the court and do things that we all enjoy to do.”

Now after coaching both of her daughters in high school, Coach Safranski gets to see all the hard work they put in pay off.

“I’m very proud,” said Coach Safranski. “They’ve put a lot of time and effort into the game of basketball and I’m proud of what they’ve done and what they’ve worked towards accomplishing. I’m excited to watch them [play] the next few years.”

Now just a short drive across the North Dakota-Minnesota border, Coach Safranski is looking forward to all the games she will be able to watch.

“We’re pretty fortunate to have them both in Moorhead,” said Coach Safranski. “That’s pretty nice to have their home games in town.”

For Taylor and Ashton, they share that excitement.

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” said Taylor. “I mean, even getting to go watch Ashton play right across the street will be very nice. Just getting to like talk to them after games and see them a little bit more often is such an awesome thing to have.”

Ashton added, “I think we just have such a good support system within each other. Having each other so close to be able to watch each other play and support each other means a lot.”

As the head coaching tenure ends at Fargo Davies, Coach Safranski and her two daughters reflect on their favorite moments throughout that time.

“I remember in our second year of a program, we made it to the state tournament,” said Coach Safranski. “That was pretty special, new kids on the block type of a thing as new program and to be able to do that was neat.” Coach Safranski continued, “the relationships that I’ve had with the kids and girls throughout my time before Davies and here… it’s pretty special.”

Taylor said, “Her coming in [to coach] after my sophomore year.” Taylor continued, “Just her being like ‘I think I might come back and coach you guys’. [My reaction to that was that] it’s gonna be awesome because I had her coach me in AAU basketball for a little bit, but I hadn’t really had her as a head coach. So, just getting to have her be my coach… I thought that was so awesome and having her be a part of the program again.”

Ashton’s answer was the obvious choice, “Well, mine’s got to be winning the state championship game.” Ashton continued, “Just having that memory that we’ll share together forever.”

Coach Safranski goes out with a record of 167-81, an EDC Coach of the Year honor in 2023, and a state championship.