Problem with ant hills and can't grow grass!

What is your soil consistency and what is your location

Have to tried testing the soils after removing the pool. The soil conditions might have deteriorated while the pool was in place.

Diatamateous Earth for the ants, or moth balls. Sorry, don't know about the grass.

The weight of your pool compressed the soil over time. The ants may actually be doing you a favor at this point: they have started the process of loosening the soil & allowing air back in.

First, rent/borrow a tiller for the weekend. Sprinkle diatamatious earth over the dirt, & till it in twice (N-S; E-W). This will introduce air, scare off the ants, & make it less welcoming for them to come back.

Tilling a few feet beyond the pool impression should help too. Pick out any rocks that have worked up. Let rest over night.

In the AM, sprinkle on straw, perilite (moisture control), & perennial rye grass; then till 1 more time. If your soil has chemical residue, add anything needed to rebalance before tilling. This will give you a good base to work with. The soil will be much more welcoming & the rye grass will hide any spots where the "good" grass doesn't take right away.

At this point, your soil should actually be too loose. Walk around on it. Don't stomp around, just walk normally & you should have it about right shortly.

Next sprinkle on grass fertilizer & water gently. You want moist earth, not mud puddles. Now sprinkle on a good seed blend recommended for partial-to-full sun in your area followed by more straw. Rake it in gently & then water more thoroughly.

The perilite will give you some wiggle room, but otherwise water every night that it didn't rain during the day until you see green sprouting over most of the area. At that point, water every other night until it is tall enough to mow.

There are some videos on YouTube that may help: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=regrowing+grass+after+swimming+pool+removal

i would put top soil and some triple 13 fertilizer and sand if its not there already from the pool and water good for a few days then add some grass seed with wheat straw over it to hide from birds and hold moisture or get some sod from Lowes and water both gently with a mist or rainhead attachment on your hose or a soft spray sprinkler hope this helps

Get yourself some chickens!