My first AGP, a 12' x 24' with A frames was sunk 2 feet in the ground, with a wooden deck entirely surrounding it on all sides, so that no earth was piled against the pool. The pump and filter were under that deck, and I had a little door I used to crawl through (from the side, at ground level) to work on the equipment I could sit on the ground under there with my head up and work on stuff.
Since then, I've decided to keep my equipment out in the open (on my current pool, which is an 18 foot round pool), so I don't have to crawl around anymore.
Back then I had a guy come over with a big backhoe to excavate those 2 feet. In Texas, the first two feet are way easier to dig out then the solid rock that lies underneath, so the guy did it for a reasonable price.