 When Veenker joined Iowa State, the team was coming off a winless season in 1930 and had lost 16 consecutive games dating back to October 1929.In his first year, the 1931 team defeated Missouri 20–0, Oklahoma 13–12, and Kansas State 7–6, compiling a 5–3 record and finishing in second place in the Big Six Conference.In November 1931, the "Ames Daily Tribune-Times" called Veenker "a veritable miracle man of football" for taking a school where "Cyclone football morale couldn't have been lower" and turning the program around in his first season.