George F. Veenker

George Frederick Veenker (April 17, 1894 – September 8, 1959) was an American football and basketball coach. He was the head basketball coach at the University of Michigan from 1928 to 1931 and also served as an assistant football coach at Michigan from 1926 to 1929. From 1931 to 1936, he was the head football coach at Iowa State College (now known as Iowa State University). He was also the athletic director at Iowa State from 1933 to 1945.

Early years Veenker graduated from high school in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in 1912. The following year, he enrolled at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. He was also captain of the 1913 Hope football team. He received his degree in 1916 after three years at Hope.

High school football coach Veenker started his coaching career at the Grand Prairie Seminary in Onarga, Illinois. Veenker served six years as Emerson's head football coach from 1920 to 1925. He coached a total of eight years as a high school football coach in Indiana and won Indiana state championships in six of the eight years. Veenker was an assistant football coach at Michigan from 1926 and also served as the Wolverines' head basketball coach from 1928 to 1931. He was also an assistant track coach in his first year at Michigan. In his first year, the Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team compiled a 13–3 overall (10–2, Big Ten) record to win the Big Ten conference championship. His teams finished in 3rd and 2nd (tied) place in the following two years. Veenker is the only coach in Michigan history to win a conference championship in his first season.

While coaching at Michigan, Veenker published a book on basketball, "Basketball for Coaches and Players," that reportedly became the best selling book on the subject of basketball.

Iowa State College In February 1931, Veenker accepted an offer to become the head football coach for Iowa State College (now known as Iowa State University) following the completion of the basketball season at Michigan. Veenker served as Iowa State's head football coach for six seasons, from 1931 until 1936. He also served as the school's athletic director from 1933 to 1945.

The highlight of Veenker's career as Iowa State's football coach was a 31–6 victory over the Iowa Hawkeyes in 1934. The game was the last meeting between the two schools for many years.

On November 30, 1936, Veenker announced his resignation as the school's head football coach. As athletic director, he appointed his assistant, James J. Yeager, as the school's new head football coach. Veenker's overall record as the head football coach at Iowa State was 21 wins, 22 losses, and 8 ties.

In his 12 years as Iowa State's athletic director, Veenker led the effort to construct a golf course on the northern edge of the Iowa State campus and hired golf course architect Perry Maxwell to design the course. The golf course was completed in 1938. He was a member of the Rules Committee in 1941 when it instituted the free substitution rule due to a severe loss of manpower to the war effort. Veenker supported the rule, noting that smaller colleges not represented on the Rules Committee needed substitution help more than the major schools. The rule adopted in 1941 marked the beginning of the end for "iron man" football in which players remained in the game on both offense and defense due to rules limiting substitutions.

Veenker was also appointed as a professor of physical education at Iowa State in 1933 and became the "head of the Physical Education Department for Men."

In June 1945, Veenker resigned from his position as Iowa State's athletic director, effective July 1, 1945. When he announced his retirement, the Ames Daily Tribune credited Veenker with expanding the campus recreation area from to , improving the athletic department's financial condition, and developing the quality of the athletic teams "to the point that championships have been coming regularly."

Later years and death After retiring from his post at Iowa State, Veenker moved to a small acreage farm near Ames, Iowa. The golf course on the Iowa State campus was renamed Veenker Memorial Golf Course shortly after his death. Veenker was survived by his wife; they had no children.

Veenker was posthumously inducted into the Iowa State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2007.

Head coaching record College football

College basketball