Virginia Tech assistant football coach Curt Newsome was resting comfortably at Lewis-Gale Hospital on Friday, at least partly due to a colleague's prodding and the decision to reschedule a cardiac scan.

Newsome, 50, underwent double-bypass surgery Friday morning after he was found to have a blockage in a test last Saturday.

"As soon as he got out of surgery, [wife] Melinda Newsome called me and told me the details on everything," Tech associate head coach Billy Hite said. "They're very pleased."

Newsome apparently had not suffered any symptoms before or during a recent physical with Dr. Mark Rogers, one of the Hokies' team physicians.

Rogers recommended a revolutionary imaging procedure called, Cardiac CT Angiography.

Newsome and Hite signed up for the test, which is so new that it is not covered by all insurance providers, but Newsome subsequently canceled his appointment.

"I jumped all over him for canceling," Hite said. "Obviously, I gave him so much grief that [he reconsidered]. He had to call four different people so he could reschedule.

"I knew I had to pay the $400. It didn't matter to me. And, I don't think it mattered to Curt. I still don't know why he wanted to cancel."

Hite said he received calls from friends who had heard that a Tech coach was undergoing bypass surgery and thought it was Hite.

"We've done all this together," Hite said. "The last couple of years, we've been getting physicals at the same time and we've been walking together. But, when we got into the season this past year and a couple of things went bad there earlier, we kind of got away from our routine.

"To make a long story short, we got back on it a couple of weeks ago."

Actually, it was Newsome who set up an appointment first. Hite won't have the procedure done until Monday.

Hite says that another offensive assistant, Kevin Sherman, is going to schedule a Cardiac CT Angiography.

"I think a couple of these other coaches will probably end up having it done, too," Hite said.

Tech aide Bryan Stinespring noted that two of Tech's last three offensive-line coaches have required bypass surgery, Newsome and J.B. Grimes, who took ill prior to a 1997 game with Miami of Ohio and required quadruple-bypass surgery.

The Hokies' offensive-line coach between Grimes and Newsome was Stinespring, who didn't say if he would be scheduling a cardiac scan.

"I've moved into a less stressful job," he said, "offensive coordinator."

Among the benefits of last week's test was the timing. The surgery probably will keep Newsome, a 3-handicapper, off the golf course for a while, but Hite expects his buddy to be on hand for the start of preseason practice Aug. 5.

"Dr. Rogers told me, 'It takes a normal person probably about three months to recover from this,' " Hite said, "but, he added, 'You coaches aren't normal people.' "