I think the administration made a couple of serious mistakes with the cult. First, they thought that if they just let them throw their tantrum, they would play themselves out rather quickly and go back to their lives. Wrong. These people will never give up on JoePed's redemption and 409. It's the only thing that gives meaning to their lives.
Second, I think they miscalculated the depths to which the cult had effected the alumni base. I'm sure that they thought it was confined to some hard core "football first" t-shirt fans and a few message board imbeciles. Wrong. As their board of trustee elections have clearly demonstrated the cult mentality is the dominant alumni mentality.
JoePed really twisted that entire university around his cult of personality, and there's no easy way out of it for the saner elements of the faculty and administration and will result in a lot of people jumping ship. You're already seeing massive declines in applications from both out of state and honors level applicants, and I think the next stage will be an exodus of faculty capable of getting other offers.