Update, 5 p.m.: This story has been updated with comments from Aaron “Aero” Atkins.

The Dallas Fuel will bring back head coach Aaron “Aero” Atkins, Envy Gaming CEO and Fuel president Mike “Hastr0” Rufail told The Dallas Morning News on Wednesday.

Rufail also confirmed the Fuel will not retain assistant Julien “daemoN” Ducros, who joined the Fuel from Paris Eternal after the first stage of the 2019 season. A formal announcement is expected when all of the contract details are finalized.

Aero, whose contract ran through the 2019 season, took over the Fuel in 2018 and led them to a strong finish in the first season, but a hopeful start this past season ended with a 12-match losing streak. Rufail did not disclose terms of Aero’s deal.

“Over these past few months.” Aero told The News in a phone interview, “I’ve gone back through everything we did, looked back through our own work. Really just tried to get a feel for areas we can improve in.”

Even though Aero will be back, his coaching staff will be different. Rufail said the Fuel hope to focus on finding an assistant to focus on overall strategy. He did not comment on the team’s other assistants (Louis “Tikatee” Lebel-Wong; Kang “Vol’Jin” Min-Gyu and Justin “Jayne” Conroy). Aero echoed Rufail’s comments.

Aero, the head coach of the United States at the upcoming Overwatch World Cup, will be under the microscope from the Overwatch community in 2020. The Fuel, one of the most popular western teams in OWL, have yet to meet their ownership’s high expectations.

The Fuel hope to not only make the playoffs, but compete for the championships, Rufail said.

“That’s who we are as Envy Gaming,” Rufail said in a phone interview. “We’re always competing to win, and we’re not happy unless we win.”

Toward the end of the 2019 season, Aero spoke about some of the challenges of the year, which included an in-flux roster and the team’s inability to adapt.

“We’ve been working very hard and we’re pretty excited how things are progressing,” Aero said about the offseason.

Aero and his staff flashed strategic acumen during the final months -- a near-reverse sweep of New York with a surprise starting lineup -- but also were outmatched in others (Exhibit A: a 4-0 destruction by the eventual champions San Francisco Shock).

The Fuel haven’t yet announced any roster moves, though it was unlikely that they would have until after the Gauntlet -- the final Overwatch Contenders tournament -- in which its academy team competed.

“Even with contracts being fairly locked in,” Rufail said, “we’re definitely making roster changes to the team. And we’re working actively making those changes right now.”

Only one Fuel player isn’t currently under contract (Lucas “NotE” Meissner), so Dallas could afford to wait until it finalized its coaching staff to start making moves. But since so many players (nine) are signed with Dallas for 2020, the Fuel have just three open roster spots. So if there are wholesale changes, players must be moved via trades, released or transitioned to other non-player roles within the organizations. That cost for a organization known to pay its players handsomely could be a tricky problem to overcome.

Now the pressure is on Aero and his staff to make the right changes.

On Twitter: TommyMagelssen