If either Mark Richt or Les Miles — or both — is fired by Georgia and LSU, respectively, those schools are likely to find out how much other schools value the coach they discarded.

Missouri and South Carolina might be interested if they are available. So might other SEC schools left without a coach when the postseason dominoes start to tumble. Both coaches are proven winners and recruiters.

The coaches might be interested, too. Richt (55) and Miles (62) still have good seasons left in them. Mizzou is only one year removed from back-to-back SEC East titles. South Carolina won 11 games for three straight seasons from 2011-13.

At their age and carrying the baggage of coaching underachieving teams the past few seasons, Richt and Miles might not be able to do better than Missouri and South Carolina.

The administrations at the SEC’s two Columbia campuses should be willing to consider them. Why risk hiring a top assistant or a mid-major coach when there’s a proven SEC coach on the market?

Miles’ Tigers won a national championship in 2007 and played for another in 2011.

Richt won two SEC titles, won or shared six East Division titles. His teams have finished in the top 10 eight times.

Richt has several qualities attractive to athletic directors and school presidents. He’s well-spoken and his personal life is beyond scrutiny. He’s shown concern for his players outside of football. Under his watch, Georgia has never been in trouble with the NCAA.

Missouri might be interested in Richt or Miles, according to the Kansas City Star. Richt’s low-key demeanor and squeaky clean record would fit in at Mizzou, which has never faced NCAA sanctions with its football program.

Richt has known nothing but success. He’s 144-51 at Georgia. Florida State finished in the top 5 in the polls in each of the seven years he was offensive coordinator on Bobby Bowden’s staff. Since Mizzou joined the SEC, Gary Pinkel has tried to recruit Georgia and Florida with only marginal success. Richt should be able to do much better.

And Richt might be interested in Mizzou. He interviewed for the job before Pinkel was hired, but accepted an offer from Georgia.

Miles was successful at Oklahoma State, which Mizzou competed against in the Big 12. He’s somewhat familiar with Mizzou and could recruit the Tigers’ traditional Midwest and Southeast areas.

With a 110-32 record at LSU and a 28-21 slate at Oklahoma State, Miles’ track record would be attractive to Mizzou. The Michigan native might feel at home in Missouri, where he wouldn’t have to deal with nearly as much pressure from fans and boosters.

South Carolina might not be as interested in Richt, who is only 9-6 against the Gamecocks and only 2-4 in the last six games between the teams. But South Carolina relies heavily on Georgia recruits, so Richt knows the Gamecocks’ recruiting area.

Miles’ experience has been mostly in the Midwest and South Central region, so he might need some time to learn to recruit the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida. Regardless, he would be tough to pass up considering his track record.

He would continue a Gamecocks tradition of hiring national championship coaches, beginning with Paul Dietzel and continuing with Lou Holtz and Steve Spurrier.