New head swimming coach Don Gambril said yesterday that he hopes to make Harvard one of the top ten teams in the nation within a few years.

"I'll be very disappointed if at times we can't rank in the top ten in the nation." he told reporters at the Harvard Club of Boston. Gambril, who has become one of the world's most famous coaches, was in town for 24 hours to talk to Harvard swimmers and athletic officials and to the press.

But Gambril stressed his desire to provide programs suited to individual swimmers. For these with modest goals, he will design moderate work-cuts.

His selection apparently has borne fruit already. Nine of the 11 established high school swimmers accepted last month have decided to come to Harvard. Gambril contacted all of them after they were accepted, and a disproportionate number decided on Harvard. One chose Yale, and another selected Princeton.

One of the nine is Rich Baughman, an outstanding distance freestyler at New Trier High School. Another is Dave Brumwell, an individual medley specialist and a member of the Canadian team for the Canadian-American Games. Gambril thinks both will break Harvard records as freshmen.

Gambril said he'll have an added opportunity to attract talent if he's appointed coach of the 1972 U.S. Olympic Team, a position he's been nominated for.

As a California coach, Gambril earned a reputation as an exceptional recruiter. He has been especially successful in attracting foreign talent. A couple of the foreigners training with him now at Long Beach may come to Boston to continue Oylmpic preparation with him. Gunnar Larson of Sweden and Hans Fassnacht of West Germany are the ones most likely to do this.

They would work out in the IAB pool with the Harvard team. Gambril said he had no reservations about the procedure. "There is plenty of pool time available," he said. He explained that the pair would provide added competition for the Crimson's top swimmers and said several of next year's freshmen were pleased with the idea.