Burned-out Florak sees potential for YSU program

He led the baseball team to its only NCAA tournament appearance.

By PETE MOLLICA

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

YOUNGSTOWN — Mike Florak knew it was time to step down as baseball coach at Youngstown State.

After 11 seasons as a head coach, the last nine with the Penguins, Florak felt he was burned out and needed a change.

“Eleven years as a head coach is a long time,” he said. “It just really caught up to me.

“It wasn’t a last-minute decision, it’s one that’s been coming for quite a while,” he added.

Florak, who compiled over 200 wins with the Penguins and led the team to the Horizon League tournament championship and the program’s only NCAA tournament appearance, said he’s stepping aside for the kids.

Sees potential

“I really feel that this team coming up has a chance to be really good and that I feel that it’s time for someone else to take over the leadership,” Florak said.

“Coaches know when they are burned out, that’s why I want to step aside and let somebody else, who’s capable of doing a better job, take over.”

Florak said he’ll always treasure the years he spent at YSU.

“The great people that I’ve met here and all over the country, all the great kids that have come through the program, the coaches and even the media have been so great to me over the years,” he said.

“The 2004 team will always be close to my heart, but like I told my kids last night at a team meeting, I never had one hit, never caught one ball and never made one pitch for that team. It was all about the players,” Florak said.

Florak said he’s also very proud of the way that his players have handled themselves in the classroom.

“Two different times we had the highest grade point average of all the teams in the Horizon League,” he said. “That was a tremendous accomplishment.”

Plans

The veteran coach said that he wants to take a different path for his life.

“I want to do a lot more speaking, especially to hospitals and churches,” he said.

Florak has done a lot of speaking about his experience with Crohn’s Disease.

“I feel that I’ve helped a lot of people over the years, but I also feel that I can do more,” he said.

Florak said that resigning was the toughest thing he’s ever had to do.

“On a scale of 1-to-10, it was an 11,” he said. “But I definitely want to coach again, but sometime in the future, not right now.”

mollica@vindy.com