And Urban signaled to Gene after returning that he planned to retire this year, so they had that conversation with Day about next season.

I wondered (and made a thread here about it) at the end of last season (bc we were all talking about his mannerisms then too) that I had wondered if JT was his new Tebow, and he was struggling to keep it all together and would eventually wind it all down.

So - my current theory based on what I'm seeing is that Meyer has told Gene he is done after this year. He's just trying to hold it all together to finish a season, his health is getting bad, he's being crushed under the pressure and anxiety (some added weight too from the Zach Smith crap), and he's on his way out. He's not going to make big moves this season like firing a coach because it's his friends and he doesn't want to bother upsetting the system he built because it won't matter in 12 weeks anyways. What's the point, he's done in a few weeks anyways and it will be Day's program then.

And since he signaled that to Gene in September, the "HC in Waiting" conversation did happen with Day and is planned for a transition in January.