Cayenne was a "spirit leader" of the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns. He was an anthropomorphic Cayenne pepper (a staple spice of the Acadiana region in which the school is located).
Louisiana does not have an official mascot. In recent years the university has had several mascots including live bulldogs (when the athletic teams were named the Bulldogs), Mr. Ragin' Cajun (animated), and the Fabulous Cajun Chicken (the most popular mascot in the history of the school). Cayenne was created using an "out of the box" method. Instead of being a physical representation of Ragin' Cajuns, like most mascots are, Cayenne was the embodiment of the Ragin' Cajun spirit of Acadiana.
Cayenne was introduced in 2000, and changes clothes depending on what sporting event he's at, e.g., he wears a Ragin' Cajun football uniform at the football games, and a Louisiana basketball jersey for the basketball games.
Disappearance and replacement
Around 2010, Cayenne went into apparent exile due to budget issues."What Happened to the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Mascot? In 2017, Louisiana Director of Athletics Bryan Maggard announced that a new mascot would be unveiled within two years. In 2019, a secret committee was discovered to be working on creating a new mascot.Overheard Rumors About UL Lafayette's New Mascot As of 2020, the Ragin' Cajuns are still without a mascot. For Halloween 2020, the Athletic site’s social media posted a picture of a graveyard with the words “Cayenne” and “The Fabulous Cajun Chicken” (the former Cajuns’ mascot) on two graves, suggesting that Cayenne’s mascot is “dead” and not making a return.
References
La Louisiane, p34 spring 2001 Article in "La Louisiane", Louisiana's official magazine.