I'm seeing the worst part of this whole thing now:
A fanbase divided.
People are lining up and choosing sides.
That's never a good sign.
I watched it happen with the Razorbacks over Nolan Richardson. It's taken 3 coaches and ten years to even start to recover.
I watched it happen with the Great Stadium Debate. It's never really been resolved and still flares up from time to time. And you can bet your ass when the compromise period is over, it will be even more vicious the second time around.
I watched it happen with Houston Nutt. While the success of Bobby Petrino has quieted Nutt's supporters for the time being, they haven't changed their mind about Nutt. They have their knives ready.
And the hell of it all is, I don't know how you stop it once it starts. I suppose if Tressel came out and resigned and was replaced with someone universally respected and admired, you might be able to nip it.