William Paul Coughlin (July 12, 1878 – May 7, 1943), nicknamed "Scranton Bill", was an American Major League Baseball third baseman for the Washington Senators (1901–1904) and Detroit Tigers (1904–1908).

Two years later, he joined the newly formed Washington Senators for their inaugural season in the American League.

He led the American League in putouts by a third baseman in 1901 with 232 (only 11 short of Willie Kamm's AL record of 243) and again in 1906 with 188.

His 232 putouts in 1901 is the 8th highest single season total in history by a major league third baseman.

In four years as the Tigers regular third baseman, Scranton Bill never hit higher than .252, and he slugged over .300 just once.

The Detroit Tigers teams of 1906–1908, on which Coughlin played, were among the most colorful groups in baseball history, with the flying spikes of Ty Cobb, on-field antics from Germany Schaefer and Charley O'Leary (who toured as a vaudeville act in the off-season), fisticuffs from catcher Boss Schmidt, and the shouts, gyrations, and jigs of Hughie "Ee-Yah" Jennings from the third base coaching box.

Coughlin taught the umpire candidates to officiate baseball games for the occupying servicemen.

Coughlin taught his umpires to play "The Star Spangled Banner" if fights erupted among the players, causing "rocks held ready to avenge an unpopular decision" to fall from "reverent hands."

Press 1990), p. 347)[7] After the war, Coughlin became the head baseball coach at Lafayette College, a post he held from 1920 to 1943.