It was late in the evening out in California last Thursday night, and Matt Drinkall and Central Michigan football were basking in the glow of a stunning, season-opening victory at San Jose State.

That’s when CMU athletic director Amy Folan handed Drinkall her cell phone. On the line was legendary Chippewas head coach Roy Kramer, who’s 95 and had stayed up to watch every second of the victory at home in Tennessee, where, by the time of the call, it was about 3 in the morning.

“He went right into ‘coach mode,’ (saying), ‘Get some rest!’” Drinkall said. “I was smiling like I was 5 years old.”

When Drinkall took the CMU job after spending several years on the staff at Army, he knew about the program’s somewhat recent success ― Brian Kelly and Butch Jones, Dan LeFevour and Antonio Brown, and

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