No way to know yet if Francona is for real

You can always find an eager someone who wants to fill your job opening. That's the easy part. The difficulty comes in shaping the interviews, especially if you're trying to identify the next manager of the Boston Red Sox.

Really, how do you simulate the pressure of baseball in New England and put it in the form of a question? How do you find out if a nice guy like Terry Francona truly has thick skin, since no managerial candidate is going to tell you that he can't handle the scrutiny?

No one knows if the remarkably open Francona is the man to lead the Sox to the World Series. This is someone who actually volunteered his cellphone number to a group of reporters Thursday. Forty-eight hours later, his phone probably rings more than Beyonce Knowles's.

What we do know about Francona is that he didn't have a soft interview path to Yawkey Way.

In one of his sessions with the Sox, Francona's day began at 10 a.m. at Fenway Park. It ended inside the Atlantic Fish Company on Boylston Street around 11 p.m. Between 10 a.m. and 11 p.m., Francona was quizzed on several managerial subjects.

For strategy, he had to sit in front of a flat-screen television and, essentially, manage a simulated game. General manager Epstein and several of his advisers created the "game."

They dissected the entire season of the 2003 Oakland A's -- for whom Francona was the bench coach -- and selected several of what they referred to as the "most interesting innings." They divided those innings into a nine-inning game and asked Francona to quickly tell them what he saw.

Not only did he tell them what he wanted to do with the situation in front of him, he mentioned relievers he had warming up in the bullpen for matchups that were three or four moves away.

Several times on Thursday, Epstein said he was "blown away" by Francona's interview. Francona's preparation had a lot to do with that statement. The candidate came to Boston with information on the major league and minor league rosters. He was able to speak intelligently on where the Sox are, as well as where they could be with their minor leaguers in the next few years.

There were times when the interview crept into SAT/GRE territory. Francona had to perform written tasks, and was asked to construct a priority system that a Sox manager should have.

He aced the test.

Unfortunately for all interviewers, there is no foolproof test that measures an interviewee's sincerity and people skills. This is important to the Sox. For all the kind words said about the makeup of last year's team, it didn't go unnoticed that a thin red "Keep Out" line snaked throughout the clubhouse.

Francona could not be tested on the quirks and eccentricities of his players. He couldn't be tested on how he would handle times such as these, when speculation about his players is as constant as the December chill. Nomar Garciaparra is traded every day on the radio. Management actually gift-wrapped Manny Ramirez and offered him to anyone in baseball. And the Alex Rodriguez rumors have been active so long that you wonder if "rumors" is the proper word for them anymore.

All of that is an important part of the job that Epstein and his advisers could not simulate -- the brushfires of Boston. The interviewing alternative was to see how Francona dealt with a large group of diverse personalities.

So he didn't just meet with Epstein, Larry Lucchino, and the advisers. He talked with secretaries, public relations assistants, and scouts. In July, talking with someone who arranges game notes will not be as challenging to him as figuring out the pitching tendencies of Javier Vazquez, but it is a way of seeing how Francona naturally deals with people.

As every sports executive knows by now, there are invisible loopholes in every interview session. Do you think the Oakland Raiders had any idea their coach, under pressure, would say his team was the dumbest in America?

Paul Gaston probably didn't think Rick Pitino would say that the negativity of Boston "sucks." For that matter, Epstein was probably as surprised as anyone that Grady Little didn't take the ball out of Pedro Martinez's hands sooner than he did.

You can't simulate pressure. All you can do is run the tests and see if a man with a winning percentage of 44 can withstand the demands of an entire region.

Francona is off to a good start. He hasn't disconnected that cell number yet.

Michael Holley is a Globe columnist. His e-mail address is holley@globe.com.