 Thurber was also the head basketball coach at Wabash from 1913 to 1915, tallying a mark of 18–7, and the head baseball coach there from 1914 to 1915, amassing a record of 11–13.Thurber served as the president of the University of Redlands in Redlands, California from 1933 to 1938.He died on November 1, 1966, in Pasadena, California, following a long illness.