UNO is going back in black.

The Mavericks announced Wednesday that they will wear predominantly black jerseys for home football games.

It’s the first time the University of Nebraska at Omaha will wear black on the football field since doing so for several seasons in the early 1990s.

Coach Pat Behrns switched the Mavs back to red when he took over in 1994.

“I’m not that much of a uniform guy — for a time you’ll recall we didn’t have any decals on our helmets,” Behrns said. “But they do look sharp, and what’s important is that our players like them.”

Behrns said that switching to black for a one-game, “blackout” promotion was considered last year, but he ruled against it.

Behrns said the Mavs had a full set of the new uniforms and were considering using them this season before a school dryer made the decision for them over the weekend.

The dryer malfunctioned and melted about 20 red uniforms.

Previously, Behrns had his players take a team picture in the black uniforms so he could see how it looked.

“We were leaning that way (toward black uniforms) anyway,” Behrns said.

The black uniforms include wide bands of red, and then white, which run down the sides from the armpits to the hips.

There is a red stripe that runs around the neck and each sleeve. That shade of red more closely resembles the color on UNO’s helmets that were incorporated in 2007 than did the red uniforms the Mavs had been wearing.

There is also a thin white line in front of each shoulder.

The numbers are white, outlined in red, and are in more of a 1960s-style script than the block-style numbers of the past.

The word “Omaha” runs across the top of the numbers, starting with UNO’s black and red ‘‘O.’’

The pants are primarily white, with another band of red — outlined in black — on the side that runs wide at the hips to a point at the thigh.

“With the pants and the red that’s in there, it might not look like what you think,” Behrns said. “It’s not totally black like it used to be.

“This is a good mix.”

UNO will get plenty of opportunity to model the uniforms with five straight home games to start the season, beginning with Saturday’s 6 p.m. game against the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

UNO — then Omaha University — wore black in the 1940s and 1950s before switching to red jerseys with black helmets in the early 1960s.

The team moved to red helmets by the mid-1960s and stuck with those until switching to black helmets in 1989. Black jerseys followed in 1991.

The Mavs will continue to wear their white jerseys for road games.

“(Changing road uniforms) is something we’ll consider,” Behrns said. “This is enough of a shock for me for right now.”

Contact the writer:

444-1027, rob.white@owh.com

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