Miami Coach Dennis Erickson signed a new...

Miami Coach Dennis Erickson signed a new seven-year contract, which will take effect Jan. 1 and run through 1999. It replaces a contract that had four years to run and paid an estimated $375,000 a year.

Financial terms of the new agreement weren’t released but the Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale quoted unidentified sources as saying the total package should pay him more than $450,000 next year.

The contract prohibits Erickson from going to another Division I-A school as head coach and follows rumors last week that he had been offered the Auburn job.