Craig Thurber enters his 22nd season as the Rod E. Wilt '86 Head Coach for Thiel College Wrestling in 2024-25. Thurber is a Greenville native who brings coaching experience from Divisions I and II and the high school ranks. Since taking over the Tomcat program in 2003, Thurber has led the Tomcats to 11 Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) Championships and has taken multiple wrestlers to the Division III National Championships, with several student-athletes earning All-America honors.
In the 2022-23 season, Thurber coached the Tomcats to the program's 24th PAC Championship, the most in PAC history. Five Tomcats won individual titles Saturday, including Evan Whiteside (125), Hunter Martz (149), Peyton Hearn (157), Jared Curcio (184) and Seth Phillips (285).
In the 2021-22 season, Thurber coached the Tomcats to the program's 23rd PAC Championship. Six wrestlers earned individual PAC titles including Evan Whiteside (125), Hunter E. Thompson (133), Hunter Martz (141), Logan Long (149), Peyton Hearn (157), and Bryce McCloskey (184). Whiteside was named the PAC's Most Outstanding Wrestler and Thompson was named the PAC Newcomer of the Year. Whiteside, Hearn, and McCloskey were named National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Scholar All-Americans. Hearn also earned Academic All-District 4 First Team honors from the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
In the 2018-19 season, Thurber coached senior Dominic Farabaugh (184) and junior Gage Gladysz (197) to individual PAC titles. Farabaugh and Gladysz were both named NWCA Scholar All-Americans, Farabuagh for the first time and Gladysz for the third-consecutive time. Gladysz also went on to compete in the NCAA Division III National Championships for the second time in his career.
Thurber’s teams are known for performing well off the mat. He has had multiple student-athletes named as individual NWCA Scholar All-Americans and seven times his teams have been recognized as NWCA Scholar Team Award recipients.
Thurber is a 1991 graduate of Greenville High School where he won a state championship in 1991 and was runner-up in 1990 at 171 pounds. He then matriculated to the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown where he earned a B.A. in social sciences in 1996.
As a member of the Pitt-Johnstown wrestling team, Thurber was a three-time NCAA All-American while finishing fifth in 1993, sixth in 1994, and national runner-up in 1995 at 177 pounds. He won the Gorriaran Memorial Trophy at the 1995 Division II National Championships for achieving the greatest number of falls in the least amount of time. Thurber was a three-time Eastern Regional Champion and was named outstanding wrestler at the Eastern Regionals tournament in 1995. He was also a four-time individual champion at the Thiel College Invitational (1992-95) and a three-time champion at the West Liberty (W. Va.) College Tournament (1993-95). Thurber amassed 120 collegiate wins under Pitt-Johnstown head coach Pat Pecora.
As an assistant coach with Pitt-Johnstown in 1996, Thurber was part of the Mountain Cats 1996 Division II National Championship team. From 1997-1999, he was an assistant to former head coach Steve Roberts at Slippery Rock University where he tutored Derek Delporto, a Division I All-American in 1999. While at Slippery Rock, Thurber earned a B.S. in health and physical education.
His wife, Kristin, is a fifth grade math teacher in the Greenville School District. They have three children: daughters Keetin and Karis, and a son, Cael. They reside in Greenville.
