TCU coach Sonny Dykes recalls the time he took an 89 percent pay cut. It was a wise move.

TCU head football coach Sonny Dykes once took an 89 percent pay cut.

On Saturday, he said it was one of the best decisions of his life.

In 1994, Dykes was a high school coach and making a good salary: $37,000 per year.

He quit the job to become an assistant coach at Navarro Junior College in Corsicana, Texas.

The salary? $4,000.

“I thought it was $4,000 a month; that’s a whole other story,” Dykes said on Saturday. “Turned out to be $4,000 a year.”

“It was the best thing for me I wouldn’t be here today if I hadn’t made that decision,” said Dykes whose TCU Horned Frogs play in the national champion game on Monday against Georgia.

He earned $6 million coaching the Horned Frogs this season en route to winning numerous national coach of the year awards for leading TCU to a 13-1 record.

The TCU head coaching job is his 14th football coaching position since 1994.

Yet, his advice is not to make life decisions based on salary alone.

“Don’t make decisions on your pay,” he said. “And if I did, I would still be a high school coach because I went from making what I thought was basically a million dollars a year — I think it was $37,000 a year as a high school coach to making $4,000 a year as a college coach. That’s not a very good financial decision.

“And I think sometimes you’ve got to look past just the financial thing and you’ve got to say, okay, what’s going to be the best situation for me and allow me to grow and try to reach my potential.”