Super Bowl 2026: Hempstead's Richie Armand plays big role behind the scenes for the Patriots

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Richie Armand was so close to the action in his first Super Bowl experience eight years ago that when the Eagles poured Gatorade over coach Doug Pederson after beating the Patriots, the splatter soaked Armand’s trousers.

You can even see him in photos and replays of that moment. It was the experience of a lifetime for a kid from Hempstead who had just started working in the NFL.

There was only one problem: Armand wasn’t with the Eagles. He was with the Patriots, in his first season on their equipment staff, and staffing the game as a ball boy who happened to be assigned to the opposing sideline.

So in the middle of all those chaotic pictures of the gleeful Eagles celebrating, there is one somber and stoic face of despair staring off into the distance among them.

It belongs to Armand.

“It was brutal,” he told Newsday of the on-field experience, not to mention having to walk into the losing locker room with his pants drenched from the other team’s victory spoils. “But then the next year we were able to finish it off the right way.”

That was when the Patriots beat the Rams. Tom Brady won his last Super Bowl ring for the Patriots that day. Armand won his first.

the Patriots are back in the Super Bowl for the first time since the end of that 2018 season. Brady is long gone but Armand is still with them. He’s in a different role now, having left the equipment staff and climbed through the football operations department to become director of player engagement.

At age 31, he no longer is on the sideline of games handing footballs to the officials or in the back room making sure everyone’s cleats and gloves fit properly. Those are important jobs for sure, but his current one has made much more of an impact on the rekindling of the Patriots’ success.

“Essentially, I am working with the players off the field,” Armand said in an effort to sum up his wide-ranging job description. “Obviously, there are a ton of things that go into their structure and their routines. So I help them transition to the area, oversee the rookie development program, assist them and their family’s needs. A little bit of everything. There is never a dull moment.”

A vital part of the staff

It’s a career Armand didn’t even know existed as he made his way through The Stony Brook School on Long Island — where he played basketball, baseball and tennis (and one season of football, which was about as much as his skinny frame could take) — and then Gordon College in Massachusetts, where he studied to be a middle school English teacher and maybe even a coach.

And it’s with a team he was at first hesitant to work for, not just because he grew up a Giants fan but because he wasn’t sure it would be the correct use of that degree in education.

“I actually turned it down a couple of times,” he said. “I didn’t really know what this all entailed, what football organizations look like.”

Then he visited the Patriots in person for a minicamp practice in the spring of 2017.

“You meet Bill Belichick, you see Tom Brady, you see all these figures you watched for a long time, but then you realize what it is like being in the locker room,” he said. “I mean, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.”

Now he is an indispensable part of a team that is a win away from another Lombardi Trophy, drawing raves from a different star quarterback and head coach from the ones with whom he started out.

“Golly, Richie man, woo,” Patriots quarterback Drake Maye said, beaming, when Newsday asked him about Armand this week. “Richie, he does so much for us. He is always on call . . . Richie is so selfless. Anything you ask from him, he gets it done.”

“Richie does a lot to earn the trust of the football players, and that is critical,” Patriots coach Mike Vrabel told Newsday. “I’ve seen him develop and I’m excited that he is here with us. He helps us so much behind the scenes, him and Halle Ross and James Mitchell, who are all part of that player engagement. They have a thankless job. There are a lot of things that the players need and they are able to provide it. We’re lucky that we have Richie in that group.”

A lot of Armand’s duties are about logistics. You get drafted or signed by the Patriots and need help finding a place to live? Armand is your guy. You want to start thinking about a post-football career? Armand can help you. Questions about life regarding everything from how to do laundry and set a budget to what kind of investments make the most sense for those big paychecks? Guess who has the answers.

When rookie offensive lineman Will Campbell was “volunteered” by Vrabel to deliver a weekly report to the team each Friday morning on the weather for the upcoming game, it was no wonder he turned to Armand for help. “Richie is the man,” Campbell said.

The two of them turned a boring task into a newscast skit that Campbell now delivers and it has become an unexpected highlight of each week’s game prep.

Long Island pride

Perhaps it isn’t all that different from being that middle school teacher Armand figured he’d become, but instead of preteens, he is sculpting some of the most famous and talented athletes in the world. That could be why he gets the biggest kick when his students, er, players, start to figure things out on their own.

“The most gratifying thing is when you see guys really take it to heart and really try to own their career and develop over the years,” Armand said. “You see guys start to open up and share their stories and take on leadership roles within the locker room.

“Even somebody like Drake Maye, where you saw him come in as a rookie and you see where he is at now, a little more vocal and encouraging guys and doing the little things to build camaraderie, I think you appreciate those moments.”

Maye, 23, will be the second-youngest quarterback to start in a Super Bowl. He likely does not yet recognize the extent of Armand’s influence in that regard when they are laughing in the locker room or playing offseason hoops at the local YMCA. But he is wise enough to know he Maye, 23, will be the second-youngest quarterback to start in a Super Bowl. He likely does not yet recognize the extent of Armand’s influence in that regard when they are laughing in the locker room or playing offseason hoops at the local YMCA. But he is wise enough to know he wants more of Armand in his own personality.

“You always see a smile on Richie’s face,” Maye said. “What Richie does to brighten people’s days, I can translate to my life and shine light and brighten people’s day in any way I can. That’s what Richie does for us, teaches us what we can do for someone else.”

These days Armand lives in Massachusetts with his wife, Jess, and their two daughters. He still gets back to Long Island often and his parents, Dawn and Harry Armand, still live in Hempstead.

There are other Long Islanders among the Patriots’ staff, too. Matt Groh, the team’s vice president of football administration, is a Chaminade graduate (just like his father, Al Groh, the former Jets and Patriots coach). Tucker Ingraham is one of the team’s national scouts; he grew up in Northport.

“There is a sense of pride when you are from the Long Island area,” Armand said. “A lot of people know about New York City but not too many people know about Hempstead or all the other places like that. I think for me, it’s that sense of appreciating where you come from and appreciating the people who helped you get to where you are. You kind of bring that sense of gratitude with you.”

Armand is bringing it all the way back to the Super Bowl.

And maybe this time, when the Gatorade gets spilled, he’ll be able to smile.