About Us
Colter Nuanez
Director of Creativity
Colter is the co-founder, managing editor of content and director of creativity for Skyline Sports. He also heads up the Skyline advertising sales team.
Colter found his passion for sports writing early on and has pursued it enthusiastically since. He’s spent six years writing for newspapers like the Missoulian, the Ellensburg Daily Record and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. While living in the Evergreen State, Colter earned numerous accolades, including winning the Washington Newspaper Association’s Sportswriter of the Year for 2010.
The University of Montana graduate returned to the Treasure State to serve as the sports editor of the Chronicle. Between 2011 and 2013, he earned numerous Montana Newspaper Association awards, including “Best Sports Story” and “Best Sports Feature” for Montana’s largest circulation classification.
In the midst of the 2012 Montana State football season, Nuanez partnered with Kevin Miller to launch Bobcat Beat, an online news gathering sports website in collaboration with the message board BobcatNation.com. With Brooks’ arrival in Bozeman in August of 2014, the brothers decided to take their passion for Big Sky Conference athletics to the next level with Skyline Sports.
In August of 2017, Colter began working as an advertising executive and on-air talent at Missoula Broadcasting Company, co-hosting Montana’s only live two-hour daily sports radio show Tootell and Nuanez from 4-6 p.m. Monday-Friday.
In 2020, Colter took over his daily ESPN Radio talk show, and transitioned into Nuanez Now, which has now won 13 E.B. Craney awards since its debut. In June of 2024, Colter was named the EB Craney Sportscaster of the Year for the fourth year in a row.
Colter is married to Kandis, who has played an integral role in building Skyline Sports. Kandis works as an RN at St. Patrick’s Hospital on the cardiac floor. In January of 2024, the couple welcomed McCall Gerome Nuanez to the world. He loves peaches and swimming in the bath, the pool and the river.
Colter can be reached at Colter.Nuanez@gmail.com and followed on Twitter @SkylineSportsMT.
Brooks Nuanez
Director of Operations
Brooks is the co-founder, senior photographer and Director of Operations for Skyline Sports. He is a life-long athlete who enjoys the fierce nature of sports as much as he enjoys the harmony of music. Brooks first gained an interest for photography at a young age, a passion that has grown into a craft he now pursues daily.
Brooks has spent his life in Montana, instilling a love for the mountains and the wildlife that live within their natural beauty. The University of Montana alum spent three seasons as a safety for the Grizzly football team while earning a degree in business management, honing his passion for craft beer, fine wine, and his entrepreneurial spirit.
In July of 2015, Brooks married his lifelong love, Kaila. Kaila finished her degree in community health at Montana State in May of 2016. The couple welcomed Ellis Charles Nuanez into the world on September 2, 2016. Ellis is already an avid sports fan. On December 21, 2019, the Nuanez’s welcome their second son, Leo Richard, who loves all teams who wear purple.
Brooks now serves as a market manager in Western Montana for George’s Distributing in addition to serving as a lead analyst on the Big Sky Breakdown podcast network, the senior photographer at Skyline Sports and the manager of business operations for Skyline. Kaila works in promotions and facilitates much of the social media for Skyline Sports.
Brooks can be reached at Brooks.Nuanez@gmail.com and followed on Twitter @Brooksnuanez and @SkylineSportsMT.
Andrew Houghton
Senior writer & Big Sky Breakdown podcast co-host
Andrew Houghton grew up in Washington, DC. An award-winning sportswriter at newspapers in Cartersville, Georgia, and Pocatello, Idaho, Andrew first started writing for Skyline Sports in 2018 and joined the organization full-time in 2021.
He serves as the producer for Nuanez Now and the program director for ESPN MT as a part of the Missoula Broadcasting Company. He has contributed to three E.B. Craney Radio Sports Coverage of the Year efforts as well as producing the “Trailblazers” podcast series about the 1994 University of Montana women’s soccer team, a project that took second place in the Craney Podcast of the Year competition.
Blake Hempstead
Senior photographer
Blake graduated from Anaconda High School in 1993 and enlisted in the United States Navy. He is a former student of Montana Tech and the University of Montana, now operating Copperhead Country Media and Anode Designs in Anaconda.
Blake has been the play by play voice of the Copperheads since 2002 and has worked in sports media (Montana Standard 05-07, Anaconda Leader 07-12, KANA AM 12-17) since moving back to Anaconda with his wife, Melissa, in 2002. The couple has three children.
Blake was the first photographer to venture out with Colter when he shot the 2012 Brawl of the Wild game in Missoula, the first contest Colter covered as an independent sportswriter. He has been Colter’s chauffeur all across the Northwest ever since.
Jason Bacaj
Photographer & creative liaison
Jason Bacaj has worked in journalism for 14 years. His work has been published in the Seattle Times, Outside and Powder magazines and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.
Most recently, Bacaj served as the managing editor of the Daily Chronicle and Explore Big Sky. His reporting has won numerous awards, including for public service and investigative journalism, as well as photography.
Tom Stuber
Montana State beat writer
Ty Gregorak
Gregorak, known fondly by most as “Coach Ty”, worked as an assistant coach in the Big Sky Conference between 2003 and 2018, coaching at the University of Montana for 12 seasons and Montana State for three more. He is proud to boast 12 wins and just three losses in the Greatest Rivalry in the West, regardless of which side he coached on.
He has contributed as the lead Big Sky analyst on the Big Sky Breakdown podcast since 2019 and has served as the color analyst for Bobcat football broadcasts for Scripps Sports each of the last two seasons. His wife, Kandice, is a proud Montana State alum. The couple has two children and lives in Bozeman.
Michael Rider, YouTube & podcast contributor
Mikey was a state champion at Billings West High School in 2006 and a Big Sky Conference champion at Montana State in 2010. He was a multiple-time All-Big Sky selection and the captain of the 2010 ‘Cats, setting the stage for a run that saw MSU win three league titles in a row.
Following his playing career, he began a career in coaching. He worked as a graduate assistant with Bobby Hauck at UNLV before returning to his alma mater to coach on Rob Ash’s staff working on the defensive side of the ball and recruiting the state of Montana.
After his coaching career finished, Rider has worked in various sales roles as well as the color commentator on Bobcat Radio Network broadcasts and has been contributing to Skyline Sports since 2022.
He and his wife Danielle, a former standout Heptathlete at MSU, live in Billings and have 3 young kids (Reese (5), Paige (4), Maclane (2)).
Samuel Akem, Big Sky multimedia producer
Samuel grew up in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma just outside of Tulsa. He played football for Montana from 2016 until 2021 and was a two-time All-Big Sky selection. He tied Montana’s all-time record for touchdown catches in a career with 29. Following his time with the Griz, Akem played in the USFL in 2023 for the Philadelphia Stars.
Most recently Samuel has had his own segment on SWX (Akem’s Acumen) during the 2023 football season, breaking down the game from a player’s perspective once a week, diving into the X’s & O’s of the game. He was also was an analyst w/ Ace Sauerwein and Denny Bedard on Montana’s GSA Tailgate Show before each Griz home game. He also has his own YouTube Channel (@SamuelAkem18) where he breaks down the game as well as gives his own analysis.
He co-hosts a weekly “Akem’s Analysis” with Colter Nuanez, where he breaks down games from across he FCS and the Big Sky Conference.
