He's the psychiatry professor that you might not know by name. But his work isn't insignificant. Not to Alabama's football program.

His name is Lionel "Lonny" Rosen -- the brains behind the famous process-driven approach to Nick Saban's coaching style. They met a while back, and there's where you find the rub.

The guru can't help this time. Rosen's still a Michigan State professor, thus the pause button on this working relationship.

Saban grinned when asked about their communication entering Alabama's Dec. 31 Cotton Bowl showdown with the Spartans.

"I don't ever want to create any kind of conflict of interest with Dr. Rosen," Saban said. "He's a special friend and has been a special help to our program for a long, long time and we certainly have a great deal of respect for him and his loyalties. He's been a great friend to us and we really respect all the help that he's given us all season long. We probably wouldn't be in the position we're in now if he didn't help us."

Rosen's long been credited with Saban's evolved thinking and approach to football.

The Saban-Rosen relationship has been chronicled over the years. It received considerable attention in this summer's Saban biography by Monte Burke.

Lonny Rosen

According to the book, players on Saban's teams called Rosen everything from "The Wizard" to "the Head Shrinker" and "the wooden belt buckle man."It's traced back to a 1998 when Saban's Michigan State team went to No. 1 Ohio State a heavy underdog.

Instead of focusing on the final score, Rosen encouraged Spartan players to think only about the next play and the next one. Win the next play and move on quickly. Don't celebrate the successes or dwell in the failures.

"When I first saw the Wizard, I was like 'Who the hell is this guy?'" former Alabama defensive lineman Damion Square said in the book, Saban: The Making of a Coach. "But then it started to make sense. We could see the results in real time. You have to brainwash your players, and I don't mean that in a bad way, to get them to all do something together."

Alabama will have to do it without Rosen this time, though.

"Hopefully we'll be able to do OK against a team he'll be rooting for," Saban said.