By BRENDAN McGAIR

Sports writer

One of the greatest pleasures Ron Johnson has enjoyed in his five years managing in Pawtucket has been serving as the messenger.
His tenure was highlighted by informing Red Sox farmhands-turned-pros such as Dustin Pedroia, Jonathan Papelbon, Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, Jacoby Ellsbury, Kevin Youkilis and Daniel Bard to pack their bags and join up with the parent club. Johnson has been around the very best prospects the organization has cultivated in recent years, grooming them during their apprenticeship days on Ben Mondor Way before sending them off to a brighter stage.
For a change, Johnson is the one on the receiving end of good tidings. After managing in the minors the last 18 seasons, the last 10 coming in the BoSox’ system, the 53-year-old is joining Boston manager Terry Francona’s staff for the 2010 season as the team’s first base coach.
The official announcement came late Monday, yet Johnson had known his days of riding buses and pulling over at some random truck stop at 3 in the morning had ceased since last Friday.
“(Francona) called me up in the afternoon to confirm that I had the job and (General Manager) Theo Epstein followed up,” said Johnson when reached at his offseason home in Tennessee Monday night. “It has been a really good weekend.”
    So ends Johnson’s minor-league odyssey, which began in ’92 with Single-A Baseball City of the Florida State League, an affiliate of the Kansas Continued from page B1
City Royals.  Johnson’s quest for a job in the bigs never once wavered, though admitting doubts started to creep in as the years in the minors started accumulating.
“The goals have never changed, but I’d be lying if it wasn’t getting late,” the affable Johnson said with a hearty chuckle. “When you’re in the 25th year of a five-year plan, you start thinking ‘Maybe it will, maybe it won’t.’
“This has always been a goal of mine,” continued Johnson. “but it’s not just my first big-league job. I’m one of the coaches with the Boston Red Sox. To me that elevates how exciting this job is.”
A vacancy in Francona’s staff was created when bench coach Brad Mills accepted the managerial post with the Houston Astros last month. The Boston hierarchy mentioned shortly before the search process commenced that the void would be filled internally, which automatically gave a boost to Johnson’s candidacy.
When it came time for Johnson to interview, he reached out to farm director Mike Hazen to get an inkling of what to expect. Johnson met with an interview panel that included Epstein, Francona, Hazen, (Director of Operations) Brian O’Halloran and (Assistant General Manager) Ben Cherington for “4-5 hours” before boarding a plane back to The Volunteer State.
“I knew it was going to be business-like and it was,” said Johnson. “Then it became wait-and-see until the call came. I can’t tell you how excited I am.
“My son (Christian) was upstairs, and after hooting and hollering, he came down. My girls were out by the barn and we starting yelling and screaming like fools.”
Johnson’s official title with the Red Sox might be first base coach, but he expects to dabble in plenty of other areas.
“It will probably be whatever I can do to help,” Johnson said. “If it means helping out (Mills’ replacement) DeMarlo Hale or working with the infielders or outfielders, that’s kind of where we went with this thing. Fortunately I’ve managed for a long time in the minors, and when you do that you wear a lot of hats.
“Like I told the guys in the interview room, I feel that I’m prepared to do this and the Red Sox have prepared me to do so.”
Asked just much his familiarity with the way the Red Sox conduct business played a role, Johnson answered, “I hope it played a lot and it should. If you look at the number of guys on the 40-man roster, I believe it’s something like half of them have played for me.”
While he’s officially a major league coach, Johnson will always treasure his tenure with the PawSox. “Class acts. I haven’t talked to Ben (Mondor), Mike (Tamburro) or Lou (Schwechheimer) yet, but being around those guys has played a percentage of helping me prepare for this job. I know the experiences that played out in Pawtucket are going to come out in years to come.”
Johnson becomes the second member of Pawtucket’s coaching staff to depart, joining hitting coach Russ Morman, who was fired shortly after the conclusion of this past season.       
“There isn’t a specific timeframe as of right now,” said Hazen in an e-mail regarding when Pawtucket vacancies will be filled. “We’ll fill the spot once we find the best candidate.”