Coach Profile

It's hard to believe that Buffalo men's soccer head coach John Astudillo has enough time to have a life outside of soccer.

Even with his dedication towards making Buffalo a better soccer program, Astudillo is involved with many other activities.

Since he was a child, Astudillo has played a wide variety of sports. He started playing soccer in middle school more or less as a hobby. Astudillo was also interested in swimming, tennis and boxing.

"I played for my boxing, swimming and tennis teams and loved it, but I was more interested in soccer because it is one of the few team sports that I played," he said. "I think it was the idea of being part of a team that interested me."

Once Astudillo stopped playing sports, he became interested in coaching. He coached soccer at Williamsville North High School before he was presented the opportunity to lead the Buffalo men's soccer team. Astudillo gladly accepted the challenge of coaching a Division I program.

"They approached me to see if I was interested in bringing a Division III program up to Division I," he said. "It was the sort of challenge that interested me at the time."

Although Astudillo was excited for the challenge, he had to adjust to coaching college athletes.

"In the high school level, you are at a mental stage," Astudillo said. "At all times you can not forget that high school athletes are beginning the sport and beginning to compete, so you really concentrate on the developmental side.

"At the Division I level, we assume players already have those skills,

Astudillo said. "Now we move to the next level so you are going to have more of a technical approach to coaching. It's a much more competitive setting so therefore your players' tactics have to be perfected."

Outside of coaching, Astudillo devotes a lot of his time towards his family. He knows that involving your family with what you do as a job is better for everyone.

"You have to incorporate your family into what you do. My daughters have always been interested in sports," Astudillo said. "They started out in soccer and are now quite involved in many different things."

In the very early stages of his daughters' lives, he made sure that he was always there to support them in anyway he could.

"The regular coaching hours are always different than regular, normal work hours, so you have to adjust," Astudillo said. "When my kids were younger, I trained at night so that I could see them during the daytime, or I just varied things so that I was able to attend some of their own games. I think that is a balance that you have to accomplish."

Juggling work, staying active with golfing, reading, skiing, coaching and managing a family takes a lot of work, effort, and persistence. But according to Astudillo, it's entirely possible.

"It just takes careful planning and taking out a few things, but that's life."