Nobody’s Talking at CSUN : College football: Burt installs gag order after meeting with 16 players who missed practice.

It isn’t exactly one big, happy family, but this is one problem the football coach wants settled between the walls of the locker room Cal State Northridge calls home.

Sixteen players who boycotted practice Tuesday returned Wednesday and spent 3 1/2 hours in an emotional meeting with Coach Bob Burt, who emerged afterward in a highly agitated state.

“This is not news,” Burt said. “This is nobody’s . . . business.”

The repercussions of the walkout remain somewhat unclear. The 16 players will suit up for Saturday’s game against Northern Arizona at North Campus Stadium, but Burt said he hasn’t decided whether any will play. Burt said the players agreed to an unspecified disciplinary penalty for missing practice.

In an apparent attempt at damage control, Burt circled the wagons, closing practice and instructing players not to comment on the affair.

Said senior tailback Mark Harper, who participated in the walkout: “(Burt) doesn’t want us to talk and he’s the head coach, you know?”

After the meeting, Burt compared the incident to a “family squabble” and said heatedly several times that the particulars of the walkout were not noteworthy.

Said Burt: “What those reasons are (for boycotting) and what the discipline is are nobody’s business.”

Senior defensive lineman Oscar Wilson, who attended the meeting even though he said he missed Tuesday’s practice because of illness, walked out of the meeting after two hours and said, “I can’t take this anymore.”

Wilson said coaches and the 16 players were attempting to settle their differences and salvage the final two games of a tumultuous season.

“Everybody’s talking about how to make the last two weeks work,” Wilson said.

Several of the team’s best players, including secondary starters Joseph Vaughn, Vinnie Johnson and James (Scoody) Woods, were among the boycotting players. Darren Walton, Shaun Coleman and Harper, who rotate at running back, also were among the 16.

Without mentioning any specifics, Burt said the dissension was generally caused by sheer frustration--Northridge is 3-5 and has lost three games in a row--and “miscommunication.”

“I believe we’re as together as we’ve been in a long time,” he said. “If something positive comes out of the last two days, good.”