It didn’t take long.

Already, the Red Sox’ managerial search has produced some raised eyebrows. After Phillies bench coach Pete Mackanin interviews on Monday, the next man in the queue will be one whose name comes with a degree of infamy in Boston: Dale Sveum.

Sveum spent two years as the oft-scrutinized third base coach of the Red Sox in 2004-05 before departing for Milwaukee, where he spent the last six seasons as a third-base coach, bench coach, interim manager and hitting coach. As much as he was second-guessed while a third-base coach with the Sox, the question is natural: Why is he on the short list as new Boston GM Ben Cherington conducts his managerial search?

Interestingly, the very traits that put him under a microscope at times while a third base coach might represent assets as he is considered for the job of Red Sox manager. Sveum has experienced the scrutiny of Boston, yet was unfailingly accountable when runners he waved home got thrown out at the plate.

He put in the necessary preparation to make snap decisions -- studying outfielders’ throwing arms, assessing their throwing positions and the speed of his runners as well as the game situation -- and if he was wrong, he nonetheless had the courage of his convictions while explaining the thought process. He knows what it is like to make mistakes in the public eye in Boston and to live with them. Fear did not guide his decisions.

Sveum is a relatively understated and soft-spoken individual. He is not viewed as a latter-day Knute Rockne or a charismatic Rex Ryan-type personality. Nor is he a dynamic public personality.

Yet to players on the Red Sox and, subsequently, the Brewers, he became a respected leader thanks to his work ethic, willingness to make risky decisions that would subject him to second-guessing and personal accountability if and when those decisions went awry.

His track record as a coach and manager offers a few glimpses into the fact that he is a respected clubhouse presence and helps to explain why the Sox are interviewing him:

-- During Sveum’s Red Sox tenure as third-base coach, he evolved into an unofficial second hitting coach, with many Sox players seeking him out (rather than Ron Jackson) to work on their swings. That was a reflection of both his respected voice as a hitting coach as well as a responsiveness by some of the players to his energy as a coach.

-- Sveum took a progressive, data-driven approach to his job. As the Red Sox’ infield coach, he studied spray chart data and took a more aggressive approach to defensive shifts than virtually any other team before Joe Maddon became the manager of the Rays.

-- In Milwaukee, he became the interim manager of a collapsing Brewers team with 12 games left in the regular season, after Ned Yost was fired. The Brewers, who had entered September with a comfortable 5½ game lead in the wild card, fell into a Sox-like swoon to start September. The team went 3-12 to open the month, falling into a tie for the wild card with two weeks left in the season.

In many respects, it was an addition-by-subtraction move. Still, Sveum was thrust into a situation where the stakes of each game were enormous, as the Brewers were amidst a dogfight for the postseason. Sveum moved boldly, shaking up the lineup (inserting Mike Cameron as the leadoff man), removing a starter (Manny Parra) from the rotation and committing to increase the degree to which his team (which had fallen into a deep offensive funk) looked to manufacture runs.

While the moves had varying degrees of success, Sveum was credited by the Brewers clubhouse with having been the right man for the job at the right time, helping to change the atmosphere surrounding the club. After losing four of the first five games under the interim manager, Milwaukee closed the season with wins in six of its final seven games to sneak into the playoffs, navigating past a Mets team that could not emerge from its own collapse.

At the end of the run, when Milwaukee lost in four games to the Phillies in the National League Division Series, Brewers players made clear their desire to have Sveum be the team’s manager going forward. Though the Brewers instead hired Ken Macha, the fact that the players articulated that desire after Sveum had spent just a few weeks on the job spoke to his ability to connect to a clubhouse.

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Sveum’s managerial experience is limited to those 16 games (12 regular season and four postseason) with the Brewers and three seasons as the manager of the Double-A Altoona Curve. Still, those who have worked with him suggest that he is skilled when it comes to the most important aspect of the job, namely the management of people.

Sveum was described as someone who could identify a player whose confidence was sagging, pull him aside and either talk or work through issues in an effort to put the player in a better place. As for discipline, he is not one who is prone to flipping clubhouse spreads, but he is viewed as someone who has clear expectations for his players and seeks a certain code of conduct. He is willing to communicate either directly or by delegating leadership to coaches or players when his standards are not upheld.

None of that means that Sveum will be the next Red Sox manager or that he is necessarily the right fit for the job. But, his range of experiences and reputation in the game paints a picture of why he will be sitting down with the Sox in the coming days as a candidate to succeed his friend, Terry Francona, on whose staff he served for two years.

Meanwhile, the fact that Sveum is being interviewed suggests that the Red Sox will not be guided in their managerial search by the list of obvious candidates. Just as was the case when they hired Francona (ahead of runner-up Joe Maddon) in 2004, the team will be guided by its own set of criteria rather than deferring to public perceptions.

In that regard, the forthcoming interview with Sveum offers a reminder that external expectations or beliefs about candidates will have little bearing on how the Sox decide to proceed. The team will look for the right fit rather than the obvious one, and if that means bringing in a former team third base coach who was maligned, at times, in that role, then so be it.