The Author...Before completing Healthier Than Normal, Mike Florak shared his incredible story of overcoming eight surgeries, four blood transfusions, and eight flare ups of Crohn’s disease in four different journal articles. He wrote two articles in 2000 for “Horizons,” a quarterly publication of the Pittsburgh chapter of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America. He wrote one each for “Intestinal Fortitude,” a publication of the Pittsburgh Intestinal Disease Foundation, in 1999, and “OQ,” a national publication of the United Ostomy Association, in 2003.

Prior to those publications, Mike wrote several freelance articles about happenings at Waynesburg College in 1996-97. During 1997-98, he was the Sports Information Director at Waynesburg and was responsible for all sports media guides and numerous press releases. He began writing in the sports department at the Athens (Oh) Messenger as part of an internship for his undergraduate training in 1991.

Healthier Than Normal is his most extensive work to date. Mike’s story relates to a variety of audiences. “I did not set out to write a story strictly about depression, Crohn’s disease, baseball, or even my faith in God. It just turned out that they were all related to each other in my life,” Florak says.

Mike has no doubts what his life mission is. “Writing the journal articles and Healthier Than Normal brought back many painful memories, which are still at times difficult to talk about. But I know that because I overcame such a devastating case of Crohn’s and depression to become a Division I baseball coach, God has called me to be an example of how to overcome adversity through faith and perseverance,” he says. “Anyone who has suffered in any way though hard times and/or deep disappointment will relate to my book.”

The Coach...Mike Florak became one of the country’s youngest NCAA Division I Head BaseballCoaches in October of 1998 at the age of 31 when he was hired at Youngstown State University. In his six years as head coach, Youngstown State has consistently finished in the top half of conference standings, beginning in the Mid-Continent Conference, and from 2002-2004, in the Horizon League.

He has coached four freshman All-Americans and numerous all-conference performers. In the last six years, Youngstown State has had seven players earn the opportunity to play professional baseball. One player, Brad Hennessey, made his major league debut in August of 2004 with the San Francisco Giants, after being the Giants’ first-round draft choice (21st overall) in 2001. The 2001 team also made its mark nationally, finishing with a team batting average of .324, which tied Dartmouth for the 20th best average in the country.

By the end of the 2004 season, the team’s grade point average had risen to a 3.09, which was the best in the Horizon League. The regular season was not quite as rewarding, as injuries and the cancellation/postponement of 20 games contributed to Youngstown State’s last-place finish in the regular season. True to form, the team did not give up, however, and they rallied to win the end-of-the-2004 season Horizon League tournament. It was the first conference championship and NCAA tournament appearance in the school’s 50-year history.

As the head coach at Waynesburg (Pa.) College, Mike led his team to a Presidents’ Athletic Conference runner-up finish in 1997. That team also finished with the country’s highest team batting average (.382). In 1998, Waynesburg won the conference championship, coming out of the tournament’s loser’s bracket to defeat Grove City College twice on the last day. Mike was named the PAC coach of the year.

As an assistant coach, Mike was fortunate to learn from some of the top coaches in the mid-west. He was an assistant coach on Steubenville American Legion’s 1994 state championship team. He began with the team in 1993 under Matt Morrison, who also coached Toronto High School to the 1997 Ohio State Championship. He spent part of 1994 as an assistant to Craig Farrar, on the staff of Steubenville Catholic Central’s Ohio State Championship team. He also coached under Bo McConnaghy at West Liberty State College, one of the top programs in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. He was an assistant to Dave Walkosky at Waynesburg in 1996 before taking over the reins the following year.

Florak began coaching in 1992 as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Ohio University, under his college coach, Joe Carbone, the two-time Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year. As a player at Ohio, Mike was a four-year starter at first base and an all-MAC selection. When he finished his playing career, he ranked in the top five in school history in games played, at-bats, home runs, runs scored, runs batted in, walks, and fielding percentage. He graduated from Ohio in 1991 with a B.S. in Journalism/Public Relations, and earned his masters there in 1992 in Higher Education Administration. In high school at Steubenville Catholic Central, he was an all-conference and all-state performer in football and baseball and was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in 1985.

The Teacher...At Waynesburg College, Mike taught in the reputable communications department under Dr. Richard Krause, chair, as an adjunct professor. He taught Sports Marketing, Intro to Media, and Sports Writing in his three years at Waynesburg from 1996-1998.

For four years at YSU, Mike has taught speech communications, being able to bring his own speaking experiences into a university classroom setting.

The Speaker...Many people all over the United States have heard Mike Florak tell his remarkable story to their organizations. His inspirational, diverse, and personal approach has touched audiences of many kinds.

He has talked at a number of United Ostomy Association meetings, including the National Youth Rally in Boulder, Co. in 2002, the National Young Adult Conference in Minneapolis, Mn. in 2003, the National Conference in Louisville, Ky., and the Delaware Valley Regioinal Conference in 2004. Mike has also been a featured speaker at many local UOA chapter meetings, including Wheeling, WV, Pittsburgh, Pa., Cincinnati, Oh, and McComb Co., Mi.

The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America has also featured Mike as a speaker at several of their events, including the Camp Tall Timbers regional conference in High View, WV, in 2000, and at the Pittsburgh and Northeast Ohio chapters of CCFA.

Florak has talked about how his strong faith in God helped him overcome the difficult times in his life to different church groups in Ohio, including the North Mar church in Warren, the Bethel Assembly of God in Austintown, and the United Methodist Church in Youngstown.

He has spoken at different Rotary Clubs, Kiwanis meetings, and various business organizations in the region. He has also been a speaker at different baseball clinics, including the Base Sports Clinic in Toledo in 2000, and numerous West Liberty State College, Steubenville American Legion Baseball, Ohio University, and Youngstown State University baseball program events. He was one of only 12 Division I coaches selected to participate in the NCAA YES Clinic in Omaha, Ne., at the 2004 College World Series.