Peter Willis Cawthon (March 24, 1898 – December 31, 1962) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player, coach, and college athletics administrator.

Cawthon was the head coach for the Brooklyn Dodgers/Tigers of the National Football League (NFL) from 1942 to 1943.

Cawthon graduated from Houston Central High School in 1917 and went on to attend Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas.

In 1923, he moved on to coach at Austin College in Sherman, Texas, where he established the Cawthon Trophy, given annually to an outstanding individual at the school on the basis of athletic participation, leadership, and sportsmanship.

Cawthon served as line coach in football with the Alabama Crimson Tide during the 1942 season.