Former JMU assistant coach, Virginia football fixture Curt Newsome dies

(WHSV) - Curt Newsome, a longtime Virginia football coach who helped James Madison win a national championship and later served as head coach at Emory & Henry, has died.

Newsome spent more than three decades coaching football in Virginia at the high school and college levels. He was best known to many JMU fans for his role on the Dukes’ coaching staff during the program’s 2004 NCAA Division I-AA national championship season.

Newsome served two stints at James Madison, working on the Dukes’ staff from 1999-2005 and again in 2013. Between those stops, he spent seven seasons as an assistant coach at Virginia Tech, where the Hokies won three ACC hampionships.

In 2014, Newsome became head coach at Emory & Henry. During 10 seasons leading the Wasps, he compiled a 53-42 record, earned Old Dominion Athletic Conference Coach of the Year honors in 2014 and guided the program through its transition from NCAA Division III to Division II competition.

Before coaching in college, Newsome spent 16 years as a high school head coach in Virginia. He was a five-time district coach of the year, a three-time Eastern Region Coach of the Year and was named Virginia’s state coach of the year by both The Associated Press and the Virginia High School League in 1998.

Over his coaching career, Newsome became a respected figure in Virginia football, mentoring generations of players at the high school and collegiate levels.

Emory & Henry inducted Newsome into its Sports Hall of Fame in 2024.