The University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s football team took home a massive trophy topped with a silver football to commemorate the school’s second consecutive New Orleans Bowl title this past weekend, but a more visible public reminder of Ragin’ Cajun spirit will soon tower over Hub City.

Crews have been working since October to paint two UL logos — one academic, one athletic — on the Lafayette Utilities System water tower next to Deano’s Pizza on Bertrand Drive, and the project is on track to be completed in only a matter of days.

"There is a lot of excitement in our community for what UL athletics, and especially the football team, has accomplished," LUS Director Terry Huval said during a phone interview Thursday. "The tower is close to campus, so it’s great that we were able to get the logos up there."

Bryan Guidry, LUS’s chief civil engineer, said the water tower’s UL makeover is "nearing completion." While the academic logo, which is visible to drivers heading north on Bertrand Drive, is complete, painters still have to put the finishing touches on the athletic logo, which faces motorists driving south toward Johnston Street.

"If the weather cooperates, we have just a couple days of work left to do before we’ll be finished," Guidry said Thursday.

Lafayette Consolidated Government, which oversees LUS, spent about $20,000 to paint the two UL logos on the water tower and to add lighting so the school spirit may also be displayed at night.

In return, UL will give LUS $100,000 worth of advertising and sponsorships, which will be spread across the 10 years that the logo will be displayed. The advertising and sponsorships UL will give LUS include $8,625 annually for signage at UL’s sports shop and $1,375 annually for a full page advertisement in UL’s football program.

Huval said officials calculated the $100,000 figure by examining how much a comparable billboard may have cost UL. He said LUS already needed to repaint the water tower, making the cross-promotion deal a natural fit.

Though officials finalized the agreement in May, Huval said LUS had to wait to begin painting the water tower because it had to be taken offline before the work could be done. Waiting until the fall to begin the work, Huval said, allowed LUS crews to take the water tower offline without affecting any customers. Water towers, which help maintain pressure levels, are more essential during the summer months, when demand is highest on the LUS system.

The UL logo will not be the first LUS water tower to carry an advertisement for another entity. Huval said LUS agreed to display the Lafayette Economic Development Authority’s branding on two water towers in exchange for LEDA giving LUS land at two of its industrial parks to build water towers.

Huval, whose son Andre has been the team’s standout center, said completing the water tower’s new paintings soon after the team’s big win makes the project an especially exciting point of pride.

"I’d like to say we scheduled it that way but it just kind of happened," Huval said. "It’s going to look really good for a long time."